Illegal Aliens claim they're being racially profiled at the border!

From Lou Dobbs on CNN last night...

DOBBS: Tonight, illegal aliens and their attorneys, emboldened by talk of amnesty and Senate legislation to that effect, are now mounting new challenges to this nation's immigration laws. Hundreds of illegal aliens arrested on immigration charges last week are now arguing that they are victims of racial profiling. They are playing the race card in their efforts to remain in this country illegally.

Casey Wian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Interstate 40 near Barstow, California, is a well-known hub for illegal alien smugglers, though it's 200 miles from the border. Last week, the Border Patrol apprehended more than 600 illegal aliens here, including the now deported mother of 12-year-old Wendy Ortiz and her two brothers. The Ortiz family was traveling on I-40 when they were apprehended by Operation Desert Denial.

WENDY ORTIZ, DAUGHTER OF ILLEGAL ALIEN: It was a white Tahoe that stopped us. It was like a regular car. And they were stopping every single car.

WIAN: Though Wendy says every car was being stopped, her attorney now claims all of the operations, more than 600 arrests, were the result of racial profiling by immigration officials.

LUIS CARRILLO, ATTORNEY: She is a victim of this harassment, this Gestapo operation of the Border Patrol. The only people they were stopping were Latinos. In other words, the juero (ph), the gringos, had free passage.

WIAN: You heard that correctly, the attorney accusing the Border Patrol of racial profiling, himself repeatedly using the pejorative terms "gringo" and "juero" to refer to Caucasians. Carrillo wrote a letter to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security requesting an investigation into the five-day Operation Desert Denial.

The Border Patrol did not respond to requests for comments but told the "Victorville Daily Press," "Enforcement of federal law does not stop at the border, and smuggling must be eradicate eradicated, specifically along the main arteries of our nation's highways."

Carrillo claims that's a waste of taxpayer money.

CARRILLO: The practice and procedure of the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is always to engage in racial profiling when it comes to the Latino community.

WIAN: Border Patrol sources say that's false. They say agents only use race or ethnicity to determine potential legal status in combination with dozens of other factors, including clothing, demeanor, means of transportation, location, and evidence of other criminal activity.

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WIAN: We asked Carrillo if he knows of a single case during the past decade where the Border Patrol has been officially sanctioned for racial profiling. He says he's not aware of any, because, in his words, "The big shots in Washington are covering it up" -- Lou.

DOBBS: We, the big shots in Washington, in point of fact, don't want to enforce any immigration laws whatsoever, and have a proven record on that basis.

What is the basis for Carrillo in this? I mean, the idea that racial profiling would be brought forward at this point, what does he do now, this attorney, and others?

WIAN: Well, I don't know where they go from here, but Border Patrol agents will tell you every time they do these interior enforcement, large-scale interior enforcement operations, attorneys come in with these charges of racial profiling. They have never stuck, to our knowledge.

One thing I can say is, as the Border Patrol gets more man power and gets more serious about enforcing our immigration laws, we're probably going to see a lot more of these cases, because it's about the only card left that these attorneys have left to play -- Lou.

DOBBS: The race card. And it's instructive, as you reported, that the Border Patrol has not in any instance been found guilty of racial profiling.

WIAN: Yes, and it's one of the -- one of the first things that Border Patrol agents learn when they are rookies coming out of the Border Patrol academy, is how to tell whether someone is a likely illegal alien or not. There are -- there are clues that go way beyond a person's race or ethnicity -- Lou.

DOBBS: Thank you very much, Casey Wian.

Our nation's elected officials are refusing to discuss the real costs of the Senate's so-called comprehensive immigration reform legislation. But as we have been reporting here on this broadcast throughout, the cost is extraordinary and understated by nearly every report.

The legislation would cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars each year over the next 20 years, and trigger a radical shift in the country's demographic makeup. You won't hear any of this from politicians, who are more interested in protecting business interests rather than the people's interests.

Lisa Sylvester reports.