Immigration Sting in North Carolina
DOBBS: In North Carolina, a recent crackdown on illegal aliens has turned into an ugly bureaucratic battle between government agencies. It began as a good old-fashioned sting operation where 48 illegal aliens were arrested. Now the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is furious. But immigration officials say they were only doing their job. Christine Romans has the story.</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These men were all working illegally at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. Forty eight illegal aliens came for what they thought was a workplace safety seminar and instead were arrested by federal immigration agents -- a good old-fashioned federal sting that's causing a good old-fashioned turf battle in Washington. In a statement, OSHA complained - quote -- "This is not something we were involved in, and we do not condone the use of OSHA's name in this type of activity." Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged that more inter- agency coordination was needed. But ICE strongly defended its method, saying such tactics are effective and used by federal law enforcement every day. The sting was part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal hiring at such high-risk facilities as airports and military bases. An effort, some say, that is too critical to be derailed by bureaucratic squabbling.</s>WILLIAM GHEEN, AMERICANS FOR LEGAL IMMIGRATION: We'd like for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to be able to arrest as many illegal aliens as they would like in the workplace, especially in our nuclear power plants and military bases, without worrying about some bureaucrat releasing their safe arrest techniques.</s>ROMANS: The Air Force base is home to the Air Force's Fourth Fighter Wing, which includes a large number of fighter jets and other sophisticated military aircraft.</s>REP. JOHN DUNCAN (R), GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE: Every department and agency in the federal government should be working together and this was an effort to have stricter enforcement or better enforcement at some of our nuclear and chemical and military facilities. And certainly, I think almost everybody in the country wants stronger enforcement.</s>ROMANS: But labor leaders and immigrant groups are outraged. They say illegals will be even less likely to report workplace injuries and safety violations, fearing deportation.</s>ROMANS: They say it'll have a chilling effect on workplace safety. But the irony, critics say, is the way to make work sites safer is by not hiring illegal labor. Lou?</s>DOBBS: This is incredible. I mean, the fact that OSHA -- who at OSHA is being so precious about their agency?</s>ROMANS: They want to make sure the spokesman of that company -- that organization wants to make sure that they're not using OSHA to lure illegal aliens in...</s>DOBBS: Right. Well, would they come on and talk with us?</s>ROMANS: Nobody will come on and talk to us, Lou. Nobody involved in this story really wants to come on and talk with us, not even the immigrant groups and some of the labor leaders who are really concerned about illegal aliens. This is a kind of a hot story. They want it to go away. Everyone just kind of wants this story to go away.</s>DOBBS: In other words, what they're really saying is they do not want Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be effective and enforce the laws...</s>ROMANS: Absolutely.</s>DOBBS: ... is what they're really saying. I don't blame them for not coming on. Thank you very much, Christine Romans.</s>ROMANS: You're welcome.</s>DOBBS: "Broken Borders". A coalition of Texas border sheriffs met in Houston today. The sheriffs, alarmed about proposed cuts in federal assistance for local law enforcement at a time when they're already overwhelmed due to the steady influx of illegal aliens pouring over the U.S.-Mexican border. They want more, not less federal help. Bill Tucker joins me now live from Houston, Texas -- Bill?</s>BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, this meeting of the Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition is, frankly, a meeting of law enforcement officials who are being overwhelmed by the failure of policymakers to commit resources to immigration enforcement. And they tell us that failure is creating some dangerous problems.</s>SIGIFREDO GONZALEZ, CHAIRMAN, BORDER SHERIFFS COALITION: There are counties in our coalition that have, you know, 180 miles of border with Mexico and they've got maybe five or six deputy sheriffs to take care of the local problems; local law enforcement. And then in addition to that, they also have to worry about what should belong to the federal government, about protecting our border. And I'm not talking about immigration issues, but other things that happen along the border -- drug trafficking, things like this. Or things on top of their local responsibilities to their local taxpayers, they've also got to respond to these calls. And it's something that, again, I reiterate, it's very unfair to the local taxpayers for this type of thing.</s>SHERIFF LEO SAMANIEGO, EL PASO COUNTY, TEXAS: What happens on the border or what doesn't happen on the border is going to affect the rest of the country. Now, we're reading about what's going on at North Carolina and several other states where they have an influx of illegal aliens that are coming in.</s>TUCKER: It's a simple equation, Lou. You can do the math. They come across the border. They get into the country. The sheriffs are also furious about the catch-and-release policy at the federal level, where they point out the OTMs that come into this country are not subject to identity verification. They're not subject to criminal background checks and they are not screened for diseases. Their primary concerns -- terrorism, drug smuggling and weapon smuggling across the border. Lou?</s>DOBBS: In other words, it's a mess.</s>TUCKER: It is.</s>DOBBS: Bill, thank you very much. Bill Tucker.</s>TUCKER: Yes.</s>DOBBS: Coming up next, my guests, two of the country's leading experts on China's rising military and economic power. And nearly two weeks after the London bombings, nearly four years after September 11th, how vulnerable does this country remain to a radical Islamist terrorist attack? My guest is Admiral James Loy. Stay with us.