>> we begin with a fox news alert. we are expecting the president to answer questions from the rose garden any moment now, in a current political environment when those questions come, anything can happen. welcome to "america live", i'm shan i don't know bream in for megyn kelly, the president having a sit down with canadian prime minister harper and mexico's felipe calderon, the discussion, energy as prices at the pump continue to rise. both countries happen to be major suppliers of oil to the united states. ed henry is at the white house to start us off. >> reporter: you're right, obviously what the president wants to do at this one-day summit he's hosting at the white house with these leaders can talk about areas where they cooperate, where they agree, such as trade but once you open it up to the media there in the rose garden in a few moments, we're expecting one from the canadian press, one from the

mexican press and one from the u.s. press, a whole host of things could come up. immigration is a source of controversy in the united states but also fast & furious which has caused controversy on both sides of the border. then when you talk about energy, the keystone pipeline, remember this was the transcanada corporation that wanted to run the pipeline from the canadian border through the u.s. all the way down to texas, canadian prime minister harper has expressed frustration in previous meetings with president obama over the fact that the administration had blocked that. now n. fairness, the president has said that if transcanada comes back with a permit request, the administration will take another look at it, but you can understand that there's frustration on the canadian side of the border that that project, number one, has not moved forward and number two, there's also been some movement by the canadian prime minister to talk, for example, with chinese officials about moving forward on other energy deals between the chinese and canadians, absent the keystone pipeline, which is

one of the reasons why there's still pressure on president obama to try and move forward on that jenna. jenna: all right henry, live at the white house just moments away from the president's meeting and speech today. thank you very much, ed. >> reporter: good to see you. shannon: in recent weeks president obama has ratcheted up attacks on oil companies so that theme may resonate again today. the president says the so called gas and oil subsidies do nothing to bring down prices at the pump. listen: >> $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies to oil companies this year. we have been subsidizing oil companies for a century. these oil subsidies won't bring gas prices down tomorrow. >> 4 billion of your tax dollars in subsidies every year. >> i expect congress to vote on ending these subsidies. >> another $4 billion on subsidies to oil companies each year. >> 4 billion of your tax dollars, subsidize the oil industry. >> a century of subsidies to the oil companies is long enough. >> congress, up until this point, has thought it was a good idea to send billions

of dollars more in tax dollars to the oil industry. shannon: but is it fair or accurate to say the oil industry gets subsidies? let's bring in lou dobbs, host of helicopter lou dobbs tonight" on the fox business network, good to see you. let's talk about the expansion because the white house always frames it as subsidies as if they are cutting a check to shell or exxon. what is the truth of how it works out. >> the truth of the matter is the oil industry are subsidizing the federal government that this president is leading and doing so with enormous sums of money. take one oil company, exxon-mobil, the largest, $41 billion in profit, but it paid more than $12 billion in taxes, and this president is going after them, and the other major oil companies? why isn't he going after general electric, led by his friend jeffrey immelt which avoided all taxes to the federal government last year? i mean, this is bizarre

economics. it is even bizarre politics being played by a president who wants to frame himself as a populist. shannon: the frut is what we're talking about is tax deductions. >> that is correct. shannon: some of us understand that's what you get to do sometimes but what does it mean about keeping your money, and i understand the effective tax rates, you mentioned exxon, one report said their effective tax rate was around 42 percent, but then you've got apple, theirs was 24 percent. we know the president favors some of these companies more than others, but it sounds like big oil is paying its taxes. >> absolutely, it's taiing -- paying its taxes. by the way directly and indirectly the oil industry in this country accounts for over 9 million jobs. this president is keen on picking winners and losers, he's picked first solar, solyndra, the taxpayers have lost billions of dollars here in the choices he's made, and the fact is, when it comes to picking winners and losers, which is what

this president is talking about do doing as he calls for these tax breaks to be eliminated from one industry, he's basically pretty much a loser when it comes to picking winners and losers. i'm not sure we want him in that business. shannon: these remarks and questions today in the rose garden, do you expect a mention of keystone and xl, the pipeline, we know it's a sore subject of canadian prime minister steven harper and our president. >> steven harper is looking for jobs, just like president calderon and president obama. the fact is that in choosing to shut down the keystone pipeline, at least the northern part of it, this president has eliminated an opportunity for 20,000 jobs in this country, as well as jobs and revenue for transcanada and canadian workers. so my suspicion is they won't take it up, but it's certainly important subtext, as is the fact that the united states has a significant trade decifit with both countries, primarily because we import 40 percent of our energy from canada and from mexico.

shannon: from what i understand, canada has the third largest oil reserves in the country behind saudi arabia and i believe venezuela, but we know that the canadian prime minister has visited other markets that may be very interested in that oil. >> specifically china. specifically china, trying to work a deal with all the oil shale crude that would be pumped into indonesia, at the same time, contemporaneously, the canadians are working with big oil companies to set up a pipeline and port facility to ship natural gas to asia. this is poor national security policy on the part of this administration, it is abysmal energy policy on the part of this administration, and i doubt very much that this president will speak very directly or specifically about energy policy today. shannon: we will find out in just moments. lou dobbs, great to see you, thank you very much. >> thank you jenna. shannon: we will have that presidential news conference streaming live on our website, foxnews.com. you can watch it in its

entirety right there when it gets underway, the scheduled time is 1:15 eastern. in the meantime, gas prices are continuing their record breaking climb. the national average, now 3.93 per gallon. that's according to aaa. now compare that to last week's average, 3.90. the highest ever for this time of year. that's nothing compared to the growing number of states where folks are already paying more than $4 a gallon new details emerging from the investigation into today's plane crash in northern russia. thirty-one people killed. the plane went down shortly after taking off from an airport in siberia. more than a dozen people, we're told, did survive. this is just the latest in a growing list of recent russian aviation disasters. greg palkot is live in london. hello greg. >> reporter: shannon, according to the russian media reports we've been tracking all day, that plane really did not have much of a chance, went down shortly after takeoff, was flying

from the siberian city of kuman, smoke was spotted quickly from the engines and then the pilot tried to make a forced landing but it was just really a big crash in a nearby field about 2 miles away. the plane broke up in many pieces. again, as you said, 31 dead, 12 injured. it's believed all the victims are russian. this is a major oil energy producing area. the plane was going from one oil center to another, probably all company workers from what we are seeing. according to the report, again, that we've been seeing, looking very hard at a technical and mechanical error, also according to one person, maybe the simple fact that they didn't use a deicing technique on the wings and maybe the ice brought the plane down. now, this is as you also noted, shannon, one of many recent crashes that we have been seeing in russia. last year alone coorksding to the research that we've been looking at, 15 russian planes went down, russia had the worst air safety record of any country in the entire world last year.

a lot of that because of aging aircraft, also, because of poor crew training, rundown airports, lax government controls. russian president medvedev last year said he was going to overhaul safety and security in the airline industry in russia and apparently he's not done enough. one final note, this is an atr74 turboprop plane, used by airlines across the world and including in the united states. in 1994 just outside of chicago one of these planes, a plane similar to that, operated by the american eagle airline, went down, killing 68. the problem then? ice on the wings. back to you. shannon: greg, thank you very much. a new court ruling could drastically change how political action committees work, as the anonymous donor may soon be a thing of the past. karl rove joins us in three minutes on that question. plus, days from what could be the chance for diplomacy with iran, its leaders are making tough new threats. just ahead, former u.n. ambassador john bolton will

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shannon: awaiting a news conference now from the president. you are looking live at the rose garden, president obama expected with leaders from canada and mexico where they could take questions on gas price, fast & furious gun running sting. anything could come up.

stay tuned, we'll take you there live. in a world where one man cannot lose, the fate of the world rests in one top secret mission! >> my lax election. after my election i'll have more flexibility. >> your mission is simple mr. obama. win one last election to gained unchecked flexibility shannon: that is the last ad from american crossroads having fun with president obama's hot mic moment with dmitry medvedev. it is one of the packs weighing in on the presidential race. now a court decision is set to change how superpacs across the political spectrum disclose where their money comes from. karl rove is an adviser for american crossroads and senior advising and deputy chief of staff to president

george w. bush and fox news contributor. great to see you. >> great to see you. incidentally the ad you showed is unaffected by the court decision in washington, d.c. it's paid for by 527 which discloses its donors on a monthly basis. shannon: let's get do that ruling that came from the district court in d.c. on friday. talking about the fact that the sec needs to change its rules with the way that people have to disclose what money they are giving. basically saying that the sec has misinterpreted the way it should go. what do you anticipate will come from that and do you think groups like yours for other ads will have to disclose exactly where you're getting money? >> first of all this affects ads run by so called 501c4 groups, that refers to a section of the tax code, inside the window, that is to say 30 days before a primary or 60 days before general election. whatever this decision is likely to be appealed -- this decision is likely to be healed. -- appealed. we don't know who and when but this affects everyone

from the naacp voter fund to the real of -- league of conservation votessers, crass roads, jps, naral, national rights abortion league, sierra club, a whole bunch of groups. so it says that within it that if they run ads within that 60 day window using 501c4 money, that they have to disclose all donors. whether that's going to stand, we don't know but the easiest answer is for groups to run ads up to the 60 day window using the 501c $4 for the last 60 delays to be nominated by groups running ads using 527 money. shannon: i thought it was interesting, i read about either effort coming from organizations at the state level. i remember covering a press conference in d.c. where a number of groups, move on.om rg, a number of other groups said they wanted to change state polices. now this talk of state treasurers who manage pension funds and invest money with big hedge funds

saying we're going to force those funds to disclose their money so we know if they're funneling money to specific superpacs. what do you make of that line of attack? >> we've seen this before. in the 1940s and '50s, a number of states attorneys general attempted to force a particular 501c4 to disclose its donor, the purpose was to intimidate people into not giving to that organization. the group was the naacp, which is a 501c4, has a 501c4 and does not disclose donors. that effort failed, in fact a supreme court in a 1954 case general held the right of organizations like that not to make their donors' names public. let's be honest what this is about. this is about a group of people on the left who have used this vehicle, 501c4, to run advertising and to run attacks on republicans for years, who now object when republicans began to duplicate their tactics and they want to intimidate people into not giving to these conservative efforts, and i think it's shameful, i think it's a sign of their fear of democracy, and it's interesting that they have

antecedents and they're a bunch of segregationists attorneys general trying to shut down the naacp, it goes to the philosophy behind most of this. >> shannon: let's talk about the subject of the ad that we started off with. it talked about the president's hot mic moment when he leaned over and suggested he had more flexibility on missile defense issues after he was reelected, the vice president said we're making too much of that remark. here's a bit of the comments of vice president joe biden. >> the idea that in this election year, queer going -- we're going to be able to deal with an agreement with the russians on further reducing our nuclear arsenal s in the environment we have in the united states congress now is difficult. and what the president is doing is stating the obvious, that it's going to be difficult. we're not going to have the flexibility to sit down and talk with people in this congress that are going to be able to listen and be able to work with us. probably between now and election day. shannon: karl, fair to say the president was just

stating the obvious? >> look, that is just insane. the president didn't say to the russian president look, i can't get this done because we've got an american election and congress isn't going to be willing to deal with this issue, he said to him specifically, tell vladimir to back off, i'll have more flexibility after the election. the president of the united states was basically saying i'm will to go do something for russia that you'll like, but that the american people won't like, so don't press me between now and the election. if the vice president was accurate that this is only stating the obvious, then tell the american people now what it is that you're going to do after the election with the russians when you have time to work with congress. tell us now what it is, what kind of concessions you're going to give to the russians who do not want this defense missile built. this was a dramatic moment t. was a huge insight into the president. he's not willing to tell the american people the things he's will to go do after the election, in this instance with one of our great rival necessary the world whose interests are often at odds with the united states and

whose actions often undermine our interests. the vice president was out to lunch on this, as candidly he is most of the time. you know, this is an amazing interview yesterday. i don't know if you've read the transcript. this wasn't just the only gaff moment. he goes on and calls the general motors the largest corporation in the world and says it's hiring hundreds of thousands of new people. the company has 202,000 people, and it's not the largest corporation in the world. nobody in the press picked up after these gaffs, one after one after one, and probably the worst was this one saying it's obvious that we just can't get it through congress this year. tell us what you'd try and get through congress, mr. vice president, if that's the case. shannon: a lot of folks have that same question. karl rove, good to see you sir, thank you. >> great, thank you. shannon: she was just on her way to work when tragedy struck, 41-year-old susan hart, crushed to death in a horrific elevator incident. you'll remember this from last december. now mechanics fired over the gruesome incident is speaking out for the first time and he has a different version of events.

>> plus when president obama was running for office he touted himself as a washington outsider who would deliver change but did he take on more than he could handle and how will voters respond in november? a fair, balanced and probably fivey debate, coming up next. >> well, i say to them tonight, there is not a liberal america, and a conservative america, there is the united states of america! this one's for all us lawnsmiths.

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shannon: this is a fox news alert, as we await a news conference from the president, new embarrassment for his energy policy. you're looking live at the rose garden, president obama expected any minute with top leaders of canada and mexico. moments ago we got word that a california solar energy company featured by the

administration has just filed for bankruptcy, solar trust of america's chapter 11 filing lists assets between $1 million, and $10 million, and liabilities between 10-$15 million. the filing comes amid the ongoing controversy surrounding solyndra, the solar firm that received a half a billion dollars federal loan and was touted by the obama administration before declaring bankruptcy last year. we hope to have more on that shortly. the mechanic -- mechanic at the center of a deadly elevateor incident is speaking out. susan hart was killed when an elevator malfunctioned, she was pinned between the floor and top of an entranceway. now the man accused of contributing to the tragedy said he is haunted by her death. investigators have yet to determine the exact cause of the accident. trace gallagher is live in los angeles with more. hi trace. >> reporter: shan i don't know, the mechanic is michael hill.

he's been working on elevators now for 38 years -- check that, 28 years, he says he still has no idea what the cause of this malfunction is. he actually got fired over this incident. susan hart was actually walking on to that elevator, in her midtown manhattan building when it malfunctioned and crushed her to death. his crew had just finished working on the elevator just a few hours before that. the city investigation points to something called a jumper wire as the cause, the wire that mechanics widely use it bypass the control panel and allows them to move the elevator whenever they want to. michael hill acknowledges yes, they did use a jumper wire to move the elevator but took that jumper wire off, and hill says he believes this, that he thinks it was a two-way radio that might have caused the elevator to malfunction, because he believes that it interfered with the elevator's computer frequency and in fact they have done these tests and two-way radios or electronic

devices may, in fact, mess up the frequency in the computer control panels of the elevators. we're talking about 60,000 elevators in midtown manhattan alone, shannon. last year, there were 53 accidents, and three fatalities, and now investigators, because there is no definitive cause, are kind of going back and looking at these theories that this mechanic has about exactly what caused that fatal accident. shannon: heartbreaking story. thank you frais. -- trace. in three minutes, more on breaking news on a california solar company that just filed bankruptcy, another firm promoted by the administration, now going belly up. >> plus a former school teacher turned nfl cheerleader could be in very big trouble. what a former student is saying that could have her trading pom poms for prison guard. >> and coast guard competing around the world in a race, a giant wave caused injuries

the dramatic save. you'll see it next. on our boat, we've had one person with a broken back, one person with a rotator cuff, had to have an operation, one with a broken foot. very -- there's been, yeah, quite severe. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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shannon: this is a fox news alert. as we await news and a news conference from the president, new questions about his energy policy. president obama is expected in the rose garden any minute now with the top leaders of canada and mexico. moments ago, we got word that a california solar energy company featured by the administration has just filed for bankruptcy. solar trust of america's chapter 11 filing lists assets between 1-$10 million, and liabilities between 10- $15 million. the news is just breaking. but peter barnes from the fox business network is check going this for us. peter, what have you uncovered so far? >> reporter: well, shan i don't know, this could come up at this press conference that's about to get underway with the president and could prove to be a little bit embarrassing for the' as energy is going to be one of the topics at the press conference, we expect, particularly the keystone pipeline, with the canadian prime minister steven harper at this meeting today at the white house. but this is a company that the administration promoted, it's a small solar company, nowhere as big as solyndra,

which as you'll recall had a taxpayer loan guarantee of half a billion dollars when it filed for bankruptcy. but it was a company that the administration promoted, interior secretary ken sal var was on hand when the company broke down -- broke ground on its facility out in california last june. several of these companies, though, have been in financial trouble because of intense competition from chinese solar companies, which the administration charges has been undercutting america with its pricing. the administration just in the last couple of weeks, filing an unfair trade practice against china over its subsidies for solar companies there. shannon. shannon: peter, just last week, we heard from the president talking about doubling down on investments to clean energy companies, saying that it's time to cut off what the white house is calling subsidies to oil companies but we know those are tax breaks that many

manufacturing companies get as well. how much of an awkward position could that put the white house in given the language that it's time to double down on companies that seem to be strug snring. >> the politics of this get pretty hard for the administration. there is legislation on capitol hill that was voted on last week that would have eliminated those subsidies, $4 billion a year, for oil and gas companies, and used some of the money to double down on alternative energy, including a solar power, and obviously, something like this gives the administration a black eye as it pushes for that, and might make it just a little harder to get something like that through congress. shannon: exactly. well, the senate did vote as you mentioned and there were democrats who crossed the line to vote with republicans in defeating that measure. we'll see if another measure surfaces if the president calls for it. peter, thank you. i know you're standing by as we await the press conference at the white house. >> reporter: shannon, thank you. shannon: new developments now in the case of the midair meltdown by that jetblue pilot,-year-old

clayton osbon set to make his first appearance in federal court after being released from a texas hospital this morning. he's already been charged with interfering with a flight crew. if convicted he could face 20 years behind bars. osbon's wife is also breaking her silence, thanking the crew and passengers of the plane for their effective yet compassionate handling of the situation. it's jail time for usama bin laden's family, a pakistani court has convicted three widows and two daughters on charges of living there illegally but that's not all. conor powell is streaming live from kabul, afghanistan with more. hello conor. >> reporter: hello shan i don't know. the five women will face 45 days in jail and pay a fine of about $110 each, we're told that fine has already been paid and because the women were officially arrested on march third, they've already served about 30 days of their sentence, meaning they've got about 15 or so days left in a pakistani prison. once they are released, the

pakistani government says they will deport the women back to their home countries but it's not really clear where they will go. two of the widows were saudi nationals, one was from yemen, but neither of those countries sounds enthusiastic about taking the widows of usama bin laden back. so there's a real question about where pakistan will send those women once they are released from a pakistani prfnlt now, the other big question going forward, though, is what will they say if they are -- or when they are released, and if they will even speak. one of the women apparently has been helping the pakistani officials investigating into the ten or so years that bin laden was in pakistan, the youngest wife has been explaining who was helping and where they lived. but not in great detail. so there is some speculation that two of the older wives will have more information. but right now, they have not been speaking, and so there's real hope and questions around when they leave pakistan, will they open their mouths right now,

and in pakistan, there doesn't appear to be much political will to further the investigation, so there are a lot of hopes pinned on the fact that the three women may open their mouths and talk about how usama bin laden happened to live in pakistan for ten years. shannon: we get through information every day, conor, thank you very much. >> a major announcement from immigration and customs enforcement, just in time for the president's meet and greet with mexico's president. good news from the feds, right after this break.

shannon: this is a fox news alert. as we await a news conference from the president about questions about his energy policy, they are surfacing again today. president obama is expected in the rose garden any minute with leaders of mexico and canada. moments ago we got word that a california solar energy company featured by the administration has just filed for bankruptcy, solar trust of america's chapter

11 filing lists assets between 1-$10 million, liabilities, though, between 10-$50 million. >> it's not going to be easy, it's not going to be quick, it's going to be requiring all of us, democrats, republicans, independents, to come together and to renew a spirit of sacrifice and service and responsibility. >> we gather because we have chosen hope over fear. unity of purpose over conflict and discord. on this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics. >> i say to them tonight, there is not a liberal america and conservative america. there is the united states of america! >> there is not a black america, and a white america

and latino america, an asian america. there is the united states of america! shannon: you heard it, candidate obama promised a new era ofby path sanship. after he arrived in the white house, to say it didn't quite happen would be an understatement. will the statements hurt mr. obama or will voters chalk it up to that's washington? brad blakeman and dick harpootlan, gentlemen, good to see you both today. dick, did he deliver or not on those promises? >> he attempted to deliver but it takes too to -- two to tango. he reached out with a hand of friendship and pulled back a nub. that's washington. and i think we saw that during george w. bush's term and i'm afraid that's just the way things are in d.c. right now. it's gotten worse because of the tea party and if you read matt bye's piece in the "new york times", john boehner did really want to deliver on the big deal, but

there's no fire like friendly fire and he caught it in the back every time he tried to work with obama. shannon: brad, does the tea party solve all of it? >> come on, please. shan i don't know, dick, let's have real history here. the first two years of the obama administration, they control the white house, the house and senate. you guys controlled it all and the president wasn't able to deliver on his own budget when he controlled every branch of government. it wasn't the republicans who let him down. it was the democrats who let their president down when he was elected supposedly with a mandate. he failed time and time again, not on divided government, on his own government. shannon: dick? >> he passed health care! >> shannon: i'll let you make a prediction. but not a single republican vote there. and for some, that's concerning that they couldn't find some little tiny place of agreement. >> i think part of the problem was not convincing the republicans to vote for it convincing them they wouldn't get beat in a primary if they did. that's what's happening in washington on both sides of

the fence. you've got democrats who have a liberal base that they're threatened by in a primary and republicans, the tea party plays havoc with them. look at mitt romney in the primary. he doesn't believe half of what he's saying, etch-a-sketch? he can't. this is ludicrous. >> mitt romney is doing well with tea party republicans, as a matter of fact, he's winning in places you guys said he didn't have a shot in and he's winning in battle ground primary states like new hampshire, florida, ohio. come on. he's doing very well. >> i'm from south carolina, where god, who won that one? >> shannon: newt gingrich. >> and myth can't decide who he is and he's going to have a tough time getting his base to come out in november, and if he were ever to get elected god forbid he's going to have a hard time governing because he has made promises he can't keep. >> he's first of all, i believe, the inevitable nominee, and the president has no record now to run on, whether it's energy os we've just reported here, another

failed energy company that you invested in, from its enter one, solyndra, the president has no energy policy, jobs policy, debt policy. it's no -- it's no longer george w. bush to blame. >> he endoo he's had 22 months of continued job growth, the biggest rebound in the stock market. >> the most anemic recovery if you can even call that in our nation's history. >> out of iraq, getting ready to get out of afghanistan, two big mistakes that the bush administration -- >> he's following bush's plan, by the way, of withdrawal. >> he didn't follow the bush plan getting in. that's what the problem was. >> he was all for it when he saw the surge working, he was against the surge before he was for it, and then he added troops, do you recall, 35,000? >> i'll tell you this, before we do anything in iran he will make sure he has credible intelligence before he commits american men and women to fight. brad: we're not going to commit troops to iran. we're going to let israel protect itself. >> that's not what romney is

saying and not what santorum is saying. >> we'll stand behind our ally is what they're saying. >> they're saying we have to put american women and men at risk. shannon: let's tbawk whether the pledges will affect him in november. you think about president george h. w. bush saying no new taxes, and he was very affected. when presidents don't stick to their propositions how much does it affect the reelection effort? >> george bush's promise of new new taxes and then voting for it, he went different, saying i'm going to try to work with the other side and not show up, not being will to go do that. i think if you look at the polls today, two new polls show president obama far ahead of mitt romney and the reason for that is because mitt romney has taken extreme positions and nobody wants to go back to the solutions of george w. bush. they didn't work. those weren't the good old days. bill clinton was the good old days. shannon: by the way, there are polls that show them neck and neck, and it

depends upon -- every day a new poll. brad, final word. >> this is obama's morphing into jimmy carter as we speak, this is 1979 all over again, we have confrontation with iran, high gases prices, economic malaise which i call the obama funk. we can't get out of this because we don't have the leadership, the desire, the will, of a president who promised change, but now there's no hope. shannon: i know you're itching but what we're going to do is go to pay per view during the commercial! great to see you, thank you. >> just as president obama is meeting with the mexican president today, immigration and customs enforcement is making a major announcement. a massive roundup of the nation's most dangerous illegals. more than 3000 arrests so far. all part of our week-long effort called operation cross-check. william la jeunesse is tracking it for us live in our west coast newsroom. hi william. >> reporter: shan i don't know, this is the crux of the president's immigration push in an election year. go after criminal aliens but leave other illegal immigrants who do not commit

crimes alone. supporters say it is a question of priorities, that means targeting 2-time felons like julio lopez who woke up last week in los angeles to a surprise visit from ice. >> you got i.d.? >> hold on. >> you don't move unless i tell you to. >> do you have any weapons on you, knives, guns? >> as soon as we told him we were immigration and customs enforcement i could see the look in his face that he knew his time had come up again. he had been caught. we're going to take him down here to our los angeles staging facility which is basically the hub where we process all of our aves. -- aves. -- arrestees. >> once you take the risk, you know it could happen, one day in two years. i knew it could happen -- it would happen, but i was

hoping -- >> committing two small crimes, that's why they kicked me out. i don't think it's fair. i know we made mistakes, but at the end -- >> if you come here illegally and you commit a crime and you violate our laws, we're going to take action. we're going to find you. and we're going to track you down. >> reporter: now, this program is not controversial, but the president's immigration policy is. critics call it back door am amnesty, basically pandering for the hispanic vote and you're letting everyone who is here illegally off the hook that doesn't commit a crime. moments ago, the president's ice director, john morton, dollars this saying the administration is not interested in deporting families here illegally or not. shannon. >> reporter: -- shannon: all right, it is interesting timing. william, thank you. in just ten days,

secretary of state hillary clinton will sit down with iranian leaders for a new round of nuclear talks, but tehran today said they will not yield under pressure. we'll see if that issue comes up during the president's news conference just ahead. and ambassador john bolton joins us live. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition.

could've had a v8.

shannon: we are sending you live now to the white house where the president has just entered the rose garden with leaders of canada and mexico >> our last summit in gad la hara, we remember felipe's hospitality and that of the mexican people including some very good march eachie -- mariachi, and some tequila, if i'm not mistaken! i can't reciprocate the

music, but felipe, steven and i are proud to welcome you here today. between us, we represent nearly half a billion citizens. in the canadian north, and in southern mexico. between the diversity of our peoples and cultures, it is extraordinary. but whenever they live, they wake up every day with hopes to provide for their families, be safe in their communities, give their children a better life, and in each of our countries, the daily lives of our citizens are shaped finally by what happens in the other two, and that is why we're here. today, we focused on our highest priority, creating jobs, opportunity for our people. the united states, our businesses have created nearly 4 million new jobs. confidence is up, the economy is getting stronger.

but about lots of folks struggling to work, pay bills, we are doing everything we can to speed up the recovery and that includes boosting trade with our two largest economic partners. mr. president, i've made it a priority to increase our exports and i'm pleased our exports to canada and mexico are going faster than our exports to the rest of the world. in fact last year trade with goods on our two neighbors sur practiced half a billion dollars. the trade spoardz 2.5 million americans jobs and i want trade supporting more jobs in the future, but today, prime minister harper led us in a good discussion about how our three countries can improve our competitiveness, they agreed to continue making our borders were efficient and more secure, with faster and cheaper travel and trade, we're expanding cooperation to create clean energy jobs and combat climate change, an area in which president

calderon of mexico has been a real leader. i'm pleased to announce that our three nations are launch ago new effort to get rid of outdated regulations that stifle trade. here in the united states our efforts to cut red tape and ensure smart regulations will help achieve savings and benefits, with businesses, consumers and our country of more than $100 billion, and we're will go working to streamline and coordinate regslations -- regulations with canada and mexico on aby lateral basis and now our three nations are going to sit down together, go through the books and simplify and eliminate more regulations that will make our joint economy stronger. it is especially important by the way for our small and medium sized businesses which when they start exporting often start with mexico and canada. it is going to help create jobs and keep us on track to meet my goal of doubling u.s. exports. more broadly, i reiterated my commitment to comprehensive immigration reform which would be good for workers and good for

business. i'm please that's canada and mexico have also expressed an interest in joining the transpacific partnership. with the bp partners, we are underway on how new members can meet the standards of this trade agreement which can be a real model to the world. i very much appreciated president calderon updating us on preparations for the next g20 summit which he will be hosting in june. the other discussion was security, traffickers expose a threat to each of our nations and each of our nations has a responsibility to meet that threat. in mexico, president calderon has shown great courage to standing up to traffickers and cartels and we've sped up the delivery of equipment and assistance to support those efforts. in the united states, we've increased cooperation on our southern border and dedicated new resources to reducing the southbound flow

of money and guns and reducing demand for drugs in the united states which helps to fuel this crisis. today, each of us reaffirmed our commitment to meeting this challenge together because that's the only way we're going to succeed. beyond our borders, these cartels and traffickers pose an extraordinary threat to our central american neighbors so we're teaming up with defense ministers from our three countries, we met last week as a group, the first time ever, and we're going to be coordinating our efforts more closely than ever, especially when it comes to supporting central america's new strategy on citizen security, which will be discussed at the summit of the americas in colombia next week. so again, i want to thank steven and felipe for being here. when i came to office i pledged to seek new partnerships with our friends in the americas, a relationship of equality and shared responsibility, to be built on mutual interests and mutual respect. that's what we've done.

it would have been possibleo it wouldn't have been possible out the leadership and sense of purpose these two outstanding leaders have brought to all our efforts, including our efforts today. as a result, i believe our nations and our citizens will be more secure, more prosperous and in a better position to give their children the lives that they deserve. so with that, let me turn it over to president calderon. >> thank you president obama ,. >> president obama, president of the united states of america, the honorable steven harper, prime minister of canada, ladies and gentlemen of the press, ambassadors, legislators, friends, first of all, i would like to thank president barack obama for his extraordinary hospitality and that of his government in hosting this summit of the leaders of

north america. and briefly, i would also like to express on behalf of the government of mexico, the people of mexico, my family, and my own behalf, a most sin ser sympathies -- my most sincere sympathies to the former -- to the family of digahado for the death yesterday. we will be rendering homage to him in mexico. for reasons for which we are here today at this summit of the north american leaders with president barack obama and the prime minister of canada, we've come to a an exchange of opinions on progress to the benefit of our respective citizens. i'm also very thankful to my two colleagues for the openness with which we have broached very complex items

on our working agenda. i recognize and recognize their enormous commitment to the leaders of north america share a vision of a strong, solitary, safe, competitive region that is able to successfully face head on the challenges of today. we agree that our common challenges can only be faced together, and therein lays the importance of having dialogue, strong dialogue amongst our three countries. the data that president obama has just given us is very important that our trade has exceeded $1 trillion for the first time. and i think that that is not separate from a reality that has to be underscored in this very complex world full of economic problems and severe crises. canada, the united states and mexico are three countries that

are growing right now and generating jobs today. and that growth and those millions of jobs, many of them have to do precisely with the greatest trade exchanges that we have ever seen amongst these great nations. i would say that the potential of north america tied to these three countries is such that within our own nations we have great deal to do to make the most of these opportunities for greater exchanges amongst our peoples. as we've mentioned today, we have progressed on various fronts. for instance, we've advanced on the deregulation in our countries, in our own countries as well as amongst our countries. we have progressed as well in harmization of certain standards that facilitate trade. we have also progressed on the bilateral relationship on border infrastructure, and all of this

has led, of course, to the benefit of canadian, mexican and american families. another line of ideas i would also say that the three nations have renewed their decision to strengthen cooperation at the international level, particularly in issues as sensitive as the security of our citizens. we have reiterated the values upon which our societies were founded; democracy, liberty, justice, the respect for human rights and, today, the political dialogue amongst us is perhaps stronger than ever. we have renewed certain principles of our existence and of our challenges. the principle of shared responsibility, the exchange of information and especially the strengthening of our institutions that has to be the guide of our cooperation. clearly, i expressed to

president obama and to prime minister harper that the fight that mexico is experiencing for a safer north america also requires a strengthening of national alaskas amongst other -- actions amongst other things to stop the traffic of weapons, to combat with greater strength money laundering and, of course, to reduce the demand for drugs that strengthens criminal organizations. i also expressed to president obama and to prime minister harper that mexico recognizes that the commitment that they have undertaken to progress along those lines. it's also necessary to strengthen the regional security focus. and in order to do this, we need to include our neighbors and central american partners who are also facing serious problems and who need our solidarity. the three countries have agreed to establish a joint dialogue mechanism with the central

american integration system, in support of the efforts to fight organized crime and in favor of regional security that benefits us all. of course, in this meeting we have broached the topic of the regional economy. the leaders of north america agree that the united states, canada and mexico must continue to delve deeper into our successful economic relationship so as to generate more jobs and greater well being in all three countries. our governments recognize that it is absolutely necessary to continue to fully comply with the nafta as well as to explore new means of strengthening regional competitiveness. and i am convinced that if we work together, we will become much more competitive than many areas of the world that we are competing with today. mexico's position is that the solution to the complex economic

situation experienced by the world today is not a return to protectionist practices that only isolate countries, reduce competitiveness of economies and send investment scurrying, but the part of the problem and the part of the investment that we need to see in the world economy is to see a delving deeper into our economies and making the most of our advantages that show our economic compliment in terms of natural resource, and only then will we be successful in a world that competes ferociously by regions. the three countries have renewed our commitment to broaden the productive, the supply chains of the region that will be even more interconnected supporting, especially, the small and medium-scale companies. mexican exports to the world

represent 37% of -- or have, rather, 37% of american content. in other words, so american exports are american exports. and they generate millions of jobs for the region. and in that lays the need to work even more in this region on a clear trilateral deregulation. for instance, in nano materials and emissions standards for some vehicles. today we also agreed to work in a coordinated fashion on actions that we will be adopting to modernize infrastructure and for border management. after ten years the last two years we've seen three new border crossing areas between mexico and the united states. after ten years of not having seen one new route. and we continue to work in a coordinated fashion to make our border more dynamic so that it's

a border of opportunities for progress on both sides of that border. tomorrow here in washington our ministers of economy and of trade will be meeting within the framework of the free trade commission of the nafta so as to continue to work towards achieving these objectives. today we've seen that prosperity in the region depends on a greater integration with full respect of our sovereignties in all fields. and in this context i'd like to reiterate the interest of my country to join forces as soon as possible to the tpp or the trans-pacific partnership and its negotiations because we know that mexicans can contribute to a quick and successful conclusion of this project. if we join forces in this region where we see the greatest growth in the world, we will be generating benefits for our families, our workers and, also, substantially improving the competitiveness of the three countries in this context. we are convinced that the

experience and participation of mexico will enrich this free trade prompt of the latest generation that encompasses countries in asia, oceania and america. our country has a clear commitment to economic freedom. we even have the support of the private sector so as to enter into the tpp. we are a nation that believes in the free trade as a tool to foster growth and development, and we have acted as a result of this. i would also like to thank the united states and canada for renewing their support to mexico and its presidency of g20. as you know, in june of this year the mexico will host the summit of the leaders in the g20. we are convinced over and above the topics that we will be dealing with there that the complex national environment needs to be an opportunity so that the world can redefine its

development models with a firm commitment to the well being of peoples and the care for the environment. ladies and gentlemen, in this summit the representatives of the united states, canada and mexico have undertaken an open and constructive dialogue just as corresponds to countries that share values. we've talked about the enormous challenges facing us so as to work together in a globalized world. and as a result, we will be working on building a new era that consolidates the right conditions for development in north america on the basis of a successful partnership as we have seen so far today. my dear president obama, thank you for your hospitality. [applause] >> prime minister harper. >> well, first of all, i'd like to begin by thanking you, barack, for so graciously and warmly, literally, hosting us here today, and i'd also like to begin by offering my sincere condolences, felipe, and through you to the people of mexico on the passing of the former

president, miguel delama did, who i gather had much to do with the nafta partnership that we enjoy today. [speaking french] canada places the highest value on the friendship and partnership among our three countries. we form one of the world's largest free trade zones which has been of great benefit to all of our nations. we're also effective collaborators in the g20, in responding to the challenges of the global recession and instability of these past few years. [speaking french] as affirmed in our budget last week, our government is focused on creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for all canadians.

[speaking french] i'm especially pleased that the united states has welcomed canada's and mexico's interests in joining the trans-pacific partnership. we also had useful discussions on continued cooperation in the managing our borders, streamlining regulation, securing global supply chains and advancing clean energy. in addition, we've announced a broadened plan for north american pandemic preparedness and a new north america/central america dialogue on security to fight transnational organized crime. finally, we discussed the agenda for the upcoming summit of the americas in colombia. canada looks forward to continue to working with the united states and mexico to promote

democratic principles, regional stability and market-based economic growth with our partners in the western hemisphere. and once again, barack and felipe, i look forward to continuing our useful discussions in cartagena. >> all right. i think we're going to take questions from each press delegation, so start with jill allen. >> thank you, mr. president. after last week's argument that that -- at the supreme court, many experts believe there could be a majority, a five-member majority, to strike down the individual mandate. and if that were to happen, if it were be ruled unconstitutional, how would you still guarantee health care to the uninsured? and then a question for president calderon and prime minister harper. over the weekend governor mitt romney said that the u.s. used to promote free enterprise around the world. and he said, quote, our president doesn't have the same feelings about american

exceptionalism that we do, and i think over the last three or four years some people around the world have begun to question that. my question to both of you is whether you think that american influence has declined over the last three to four years and, president obama, if you'd like to respond to that too. >> well, on the second part of your question, you know, it's still primary season for the republican party. they're going to make a decision about who their candidate will be. it's worth noting that i first arrived on the national stage with a speech at the democratic convention that was entirely about american exceptionalism. and that my entire career has been a testimony to american exceptionalism. but i will cut folks some slack for now because they're still

trying to get their nomination. with respect to health care, i'm actually continue to be confident that the supreme court will uphold the law, and the reason is because in accordance with precedent out there, it's constitutional. that's not just my opinion, by the way, that's the opinion of legal experts across the ideological spectrum including two very conservative appellate court justices that said this wasn't even a close case. i think it's important because i watched some of the commentary last week to remind people that this is not an abstract argument. people's lives are affected by the lack of availability of health care, the inaffordability of health care, their inability

to get health care because of pre-existing conditions. the law that's already in place has already given 2.5 million young people health care that wouldn't otherwise have it. there are tens of thousands of adults with pre-existing conditions who have health care right now because of this law. parents don't have to worry about their children not being able to get health care because they can't be prevented from getting health care as a consequence of a pre-existing condition. that's part of this law. millions of seniors are paying less for prescription drugs because of this law. americans all across the country have greater rights and protections with respect to their insurance companies, and they're getting preventive care because of this law. so that's just the part that's already been implemented. that doesn't even speak to the 30 million people who stand to gain coverage once it's fully

implemented in 2014. and i think it's important, and i think the american people understand, and i think the justices should understand that in the absence of an individual mandate you cannot have a mechanism to insure that people with pre-existing conditions can actually get health care. so there's not only a economic element to this and a legal element to this, but there's a human element to this. and i hope that's not forgotten in this political debate. ultimately, i'm confident that the supreme court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically-elected congress. and i just remind conservative

commentators that for years what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint. that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly-constituted and passed law. well, this is a good example, and i'm pretty confident that this court will recognize that and not take that step. i'm sorry. you know, as i said, we are confident that this will be over, that this will be upheld. i'm confident that this will be upheld because it should be upheld. and, again, that's not just my opinion. that's the opinion of a whole

lot of constitutional law professors and academics and judges and lawyers who have examined this law even if they're not particularly sympathetic to this particular piece of legislation or my presidency. spanish. >> translator: your question was a little local for me x so i'm glad that the president of the united states answered it. but i would take advantage of this moment to say that after increasing the budget line for the folk insurance sixfold and after having built more than 1,000 new clinics in the country, we're getting close to reaching universal coverage of health care; full, free health care coverage for all people up

to 18 years of age including cancer coverage. of the 112 million mexicans, 106 million will have effective, efficient universal health care coverage. so i would say that i would hope that one of the greatest economies in the world such as the united states could follow our example in achieving this. because it was a great thing. >> i don't think you really expect me to intervene in the u.s. presidential election. um, let me just say this. you know, for canada, and this is something that i think transcends governments in canada or administrations here in the united states. for canada the united states is and always will be our closest neighbor, our greatest ally and our best friend. and i believe that american leadership is at all times great and indispensable for the world. and i think over the past few years we've done great things

together in terms of the response both through the g20 and bilaterally on the recession and the recovery. we had under your leadership, barack, that successful intervention in libya, our trade relationship is the biggest in the world and growing, and so i think it's been a tremendous partnership. >> somebody from the mexican press corps. [speaking spanish] >> translator: good afternoon. for president calderon, you were saying, you were referring to weapons. we'd like to know what president obama said in terms of what's going to be done to stop the traffic of weapons. and, president obama, i'd like to know what plans your government has in the presidential election process in mexico, what was discussed in terms of the interviews with the candidates in mexico city? and i'd also like to know for

the government of the united states there's a threat for the country in this sense on weapons, mr. president. the weapons have come into the country, either military leaks of letting the arms come through, what's going to be done? and for prime minister harper, are -- is the visa requirement going to be removed for mistake cans? thank you. -- mexicans? thank you. >> that's a lot of questions. [laughter] go ahead, go first. [speaking spanish] >> translator: my position on this subject is very clear, and i would repeat it here. let me, let me broach it from another angle. it's been shown that when there is an excessive, quick availability of weapons in any given society, there is an increase in violence and the murders that goes on many be years afterwards. this phenomenon took place in many places of africa after

their civil wars. we've seen it in el salvador, guatemala, in eastern europe, in kosovo, in bosnia. it's happened, it's taken place in many different areas of the world, and we sustain that the expiration of the weapons ban of 2004 coincided almost exactly with the beginning of the harshest, the beginning of the harshest period of violence we've ever seen during my government. we have seized over 14 o 0,000 weapons -- 140,000 weapons in four years, and i think that the vast majority have been assault weapons, ak-47s, et, and many, the vast majority of these weapons were should in gun shops in the united states, along the worlder of the u.s. and mexico.

there are approximately 8,000 weapons shops. if we do our accounts, that means that there are approximately nine weapons stores for each walmart that exists in the united states and mexico. so a good deal of the, of our discussion did touch upon this. but i recognize at the same time the administrative effort that's been undertaken particularly by president obama and his administration so that the agencyies for control of illegal actions curb this export of guns and weapons to mexico. we've seen a much more active effort in this sense than in any other time in the past. i have a great deal of respect for the u.s. legislation, especially the second amendment. but i know that if we don't stop the traffic of weapons into mexico, also, if we don't, if we don't have mechanisms to por bid

the -- forbid the sale of weapons such as we had in the '90s or for registry of guns, at least for assault weapons, then we are never going to be able to stop the violence in mexico or stop a future turning of those bun guns upon the -- guns upon the u.s. so i, if i am against the traffic of weapons in mexico, i'm against the traffic of weapons anywhere, be that within any circumstance. the government of mexico will never be able to accept anything that has to do with opening it. so president obama has been very clear on the position of his government. we understand the work being done by the agencies to stop the criminals, but this cannot be an obstacle to the cooperation that we have to have amongst mexico and the united states to stop these criminal activities that

underlie this issue which is one of the greatest obstacles and problems for mexico. i understand the internal problems from a political point of view in the united states, and i mentioned this publicly in congress in the united states, and i said things exactly the way i believed them. i said them outright. there's a great deal of discrepancy between the points of view. a very complex political issue, but it is very important to underscore it. and i believe that's the only part of the question that i can answer, and i would say that what president obama has already answered was very well done. >> well, just very briefly with respect to the presidential elections and mexico, vice president biden met with the candidates to express sentiments that are similar to the ones stephen just expressed here with

respect to the u.s. elections x that is that between -- and that is that the friendship between our three countries, the partnership between our three countries extends beyond and is more fundamental than any particular party or any particular election. and that's the message we have to send with respect to mexico. i've had an excellent working relationship with felipe, i expect to have an excellent working relationship with the next mexican president, whoever that candidate may be. because the underlying common interests that we have economically, socially, culturally, the people-to-people relationship that we have is so important that it transcends partisan politics. and with respect to the issue of guns, i've made very clear in every meeting that i've had with felipe, and we've actually put into practice efforts to stop illegal gun trafficking north to south. it is a difficult task, but it's one that we have taken very

seriously and taken some unprecedented steps. we will continue to coordinate closely with the mexican government because we recognize the toll that it's taken with respect to families and innocent individuals inside of mexico. and this is part of our broader, comprehensive cooperation in weakening the grip of narcotrafficking within mexico, and we recognize that we have a responsibility to reduce demand for drugs, that we have a responsibility to make sure that not only guns, but also cash isn't flowing into mexico. and i, obviously, president calderon takes very seriously his responsibilities to apply effective law enforcement within mexico. and i think he's taken courageous steps to do that. so we're going to keep on partners together in order to continue to make progress on this very important issue. >> you asked me about the visa requirement. visa requirement is the really

only effective means we have in canada today to deal with large-scale, bogus rough fiji claims under our refugee determination system. legislation that is being implemented, in fact, there's legislation before parliament to enhance those changes. that legislation will, in the future, in years to come will give us tools other than visa requirement to deal with that particular problem. but as of today, that remains the only tool at our disposal. >> okay. finally from -- >> yeah. mark kennedy. >> hello, gentlemen. i have a couple of questions on two critical issues you were discussing today, one on trade and one on crime. on trade, prime minister harper, why is canada's position at the negotiating table on the trans-pacific partnership so important to canada? and secondly, to get us there, to be a player, are you willing to give up as a precondition our

supply management system? and, president obama, you said earlier that there needs to be high standards for a country to be there. i'm wondering whether you think think yet canada has met those, whether you want us to drop our traditional system. and on crime we in canada read about the challenges that mexico has on the drug cartels and the horrible violence that occurs down there. but perhaps it's possible that many canadians and perhaps even americans don't see it as effecting their lives, perhaps it doesn't effect their communities. so on that issue, why do you three gentlemen that a three-country, coordinated approach is necessary to protect our citizens? and, prime minister, if you can do that, please. >> sure. first of all, in response to the question on the trans-pacific partnership, this is our desire to be part of that negotiation

is part of canada's ambitious trade agenda. as you know, we are currently in negotiations with over 50 countries around the world including the european union and japan and india. so this is, obviously, a logical extension of the desire of our government to dramatically broaden our free trade relationships around the world. you know, canada's position on trans-pacific partnership is the same as our position in any trade negotiation. we expect to negotiate and debate all manner of issues, and we seek ambitious outcomes to free trade agreements. and those negotiations, of course, you know, canada will attempt to promote and to defend canada's interests not just across the economy, but in individual sectors as well. on the question of, the question of security, look, the security problems are -- the security

challenge particularly around, around the drug trade is a serious regional problem throughout our hemisphere that has real impacts, you know, not the kind of governance and security impacts we see maybe in central america and the caribbean and elsewhere, but it has real serious impacts on the health and safety of communities in our country as well. and as these criminal networks are transnational, it's important that our attempts to fight them be equally transnational. and that's why we work together on these initiatives. [speaking french]

[speaking french] [speaking french]

[speaking french] [speaking french] >> with respect to the tpp, as is true of any process of arriving at a trade agreement,

every country that's participating is going to have to make some modifications. you know, that's inherent in the process because each of our countries have their own idiosyncrasies. certain industries that have in the past been protected, certain practices that may be unique to that country but end up creating disadvantages for businesses from other countries, and so it's a process of everybody making adjustments. i don't think canada would be unique in that. are there areas where we'd like to see some changes in terms of canadian practices? of course. i assure you that canada will have some complaints directed at us, and every member of the trans-pacific partnership eventually would have to make some modifications in order to accommodate the larger interest of growing the overall economy and expanding trade and,

ultimately, jobs. so i don't anticipate that there's something unique about canada that wouldn't be true for any of the other aspirants to forming this trans-pacific partnership. um, with respect to the transnational drug trade, first and foremost, i think we should be concerned about what's happening in mexico and central america because when you have innocent families and women and children who are being gunned down on the streets, that should be everybody's problem, not just our problem. not just their problem. you know, there's a sense of neighborly regard and concern that has to be, has to be part of our calculus and our foreign policy. but more practically, the united states shares a border with

mexico. if you have this kind of violence and the power of the drug trade as a whole expanding in countries that are coclosely liatated with us, in central american countries if people start getting a larger and larger space over which they have control over serious chunks of the economy, if they are undermining institutions in these countries, that will impact our capacity to do business in these countries, it could have a spillover effect in terms of our nationals who are living in those countries, tourists that are visiting these countries, it could have a deteriorating effect overall on the nature of our relationship. and that's something that we have to pay attention to. and as i said, i think the mexican government has taken this very seriously at great

cost to itself. we have an obligation to take it just as seriously in part because we are the ultimate destination for a large chunk of this market. and that, you know, steven and i were trade -- stephen and i were trading notes. in places like the united states and canada, this is not just an issue of that traditionally was very urban. this has disseminated across our communities. and you go into rural communities, and you've got methamphetamine sales that are devastating, you know, young and old alike. and some of that is originally sourced in mexico. and so even in the remotest, most isolated parts of canada or the united states, they're being impacted by this drug trade, and we've got to work cooperatively in order to deal with it. [speaking spanish] >> translator: and i'd like to

look at it from another standpoint. the security of north america is absolutely tied to each of its member states. there cannot be full security in this country or in canada or in mexico if we do not have a system that actually enables the cooperation mechanisms to act in facing threats that have no borders, that aren't transnational by their very nature. and these are threats that are not just tied to drug trafficking which is transnational, of course. and i'll give you two examples of success stories that i was mentioning this morning. one, the attempt to take to mexico one of the children of gadhafi, one of gadhafi's children. this implied an international and very north american operation because it was headed

up by a canadian businesswoman who hired an american company which hired, in turn, mexican pilots and counterfeiters. and this multi-national operation could have been, would not have been avoided without the international security mechanisms that we didn't have before, but that now we have. also being able to avoid the assassination of the saudi ambassador here in washington would not have been possible without the mechanisms of cooperation that we have today. so thinking that what happens in mexico doesn't have anything to do with the security of the citizens of this country or of any other citizen of north network is a mistake. we have to understand that we are all tied to one another. now, security understood in the regional sense in order to understand that, we have to understand where the greatest threats to security actually lay

the united states has a clear idea of its security priorities, the threats of terrorism, of international terrorism, terrible attacks on the u.s. people. another threat, clearly, is in the power of transnational organized crime which i insist is not crime or organizations that are strictly mexican in nature. they don't have a nationality, and they don't operate in just one country. they're probably operating right here in this city. in washington, for instance, the number of homicides per 100,000 inhabitants is higher by ten, more than ten or twenty than the largest number than any of the big cities in mexico. these are international organizations that have a growing disruptive capacity that

act well beyond borders and threaten anyone anywhere. it is true, the efforts that we undertake clearly make it possible to contain that threat and to prevent it from from acting in society not just in the united states or canada, but even in mexico. and that explains why, for instance, despite the perception of my country last year 23 million tourists came to our country by plane, plus another seven million in cruise ships, plus another 50 million who just crossed the border, the land borders. so that's also why there are two million mexicans living comfortably in mexico and many more living also here who came to visit us here, wanted to see us in the white house. and that's also why 1.6 million canadians come to mexico every year so that 5% of the canadian

population that travels to mexico every year. and that also explains why despite the fact that a state such as texas recommends that none of its young people should travel anywhere in mexico, that's why there are hundreds of thousands of young texans who go to mexico, enjoy it and why we haven't seen one single incident with the u.s. spring breakers in mexico this past spring, for instance. great concern because these are multi-national criminal organizations, and the mechanisms, of course, to face them, to defeat them have to be multi-national. in addition to the expressions of solidarity of president obama who says he cannot step aside from the expressions of threat that's facing a neighbor of his. the vulnerability from an institutional point of view in mexico and central america is an issue that also impacts and jeopardizes all of the citizens of north america.

>> all right? thank you very much, everyone. >> you have been watching live from the white house rose guarden as the president has held a news conference there with the leaders of canada and, also, mexico. we heard some very big news a moment ago. tucked inside all of this talk about weapons trafficking and trade, the president shared some very strong words about the supreme court and the pending ruling on his health care law. you're going to want to listen closely to this. >> and i think it's important, and i think the american people understand, and i think the justices should understand that in the absence of an individual mandate, you cannot have a mechanism to insure that people with pre-existing conditions can actually get health care. so there's not only a economic element to this and a legal

element to this, but there's a human element to this. and i hope that's not forgotten in this political debate. ultimately, i'm confident that the supreme court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically-elected congress. and i just remind conservative commentators that for years what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint. that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly-constituted and passed law. well, this is a good example, and i'm pretty confident that

this court will recognize that and not take that step. >> let's bring in chris stirewalt, host of "power play" every day on foxnews.com live. chris, the line that got a lot of our attention, all of us listening to the speech, was this reference to an unelected group of people overturning a duly-passed law. but as i recall from article iii, we do have a judicial branch. >> well, there is that, shannon. the framers did put that in there. now, that's tough talk from the president. that is laying down the gauntlet and echoing an argument that we've heard from his supporters throughout this process at the supreme court and through this election cycle that has to do with blaming the court, preparing for a possible defeat especially after, and you covered it so well, the difficulty that the government had getting the case past the justices in three days of arguments last week. now they are preparing to shift the blame to a political court using that buzz word, "unelected." these unelected justices and

putting it on them if, in fact, they rebuff the president and his major law. >> i mean, that's the role of the judiciary. they strike down laws all the time that either the administration does favor or doesn't favor. you have to take the good with the bad regardless of where you stand on the side of any law. but how much of this is a continuation of sort of, you know, we saw the dust-up at the state of the union a couple of years ago as the justices sat there and the president, basically, chided them over the citizens united case. he seemed to be throwing down the gauntlet again today, sort of telling them, don't do it. >> well, look, the president of the united states gaming the supreme court in public trying to apply public pressure to the justices is something unusual, but as you said, he has set a high or low -- depending on how you look at it -- a high or low bar for this sort of activity when he chided them in person and called them out sitting in front of him at the state of the

union address. this is a president who enjoys having an adversarial relationship with the court and plays to his base which is to say that this bush court, this bush v. gore court that democrats dislike, that liberals dislike because it has a more conservative bent than courts have in the past, the president likes to run against them, too, so it helps him there. >> having sat through the three days of arguments, i remain unconvinced about which way these justices are going to go, i don't think anybody knows other than justice anthony kennedy. we know they had an initial vote about the case on friday, but it sounds like the comments today and also the white house rushing to the defense of solicitor general don verrilli that the white house is sort of setting up its backers for the possibility that this law's not going to make it and sort of looking for ways to control the fallout before it happens. >> absolutely. and the big thing here other than him playing this game with

the supreme court, that's a political, that's a posture. interesting to me that he said if you take out the requirement that all individuals buy health insurance or be enrolled in a government program, if you take that out, that the law is dead. because the stuff he talked about at the beginning could have passed with bipartisan support. there were plenty of republicans that were in support of it. but the concept of a new entitlement program for middle class americans, subsidized health insurance for all these people, that he says that's at risk is very significant. >> chris stirewalt, always great to see you. thank you, sir. >> yes, ma'am. this is a fox news alert, five people hurt at a shooting at a religious school in the oakland, california. we are looking live now. we are told the suspect is still at the scene. trace gallagher is following this for us, we'll check in with him from the west coast. trace, are you able to get any information about this? we see what appear to be law enforcement officers running, a number of vehicles in this area. can you give us even basic

details? it looks like possibly oakland, california, where this is playing out? >> reporter: it is in oakland, california, shannon. this is a music medical school. they cater mostly to koreans, american-koreans here, and you can see by the police presence there, they believe, the police believe there is still an active shooter inside the building. the latest numbers we are getting is they believe the reports say at least eight people have now been shot, and ktvu, our fox affiliate up there in the bay area, one person confirmed dead but that two people have been shot in the head. and the big story here is they believe that an active shooter is still inside the building. at last word, shannon, they were telling us they believe this happened in the act chew puncture clinic which is on campus at the university which makes sense because this university specializes in the asian medicine. again, we're told that a shooter, a male believed to be in the his 40s of asian

descent, walked into a classroom and opened fire. they're having classes this week at the university, their easter vacation, their spring break doesn't start until next week. this is a christian school, a small private school by the oakland international airport. this is in an area of old warehouses that are kind of around the airport. that's where the school is located, and you can see from our live pictures by our fox affiliate ktvu that police and the officers are behind their vehicles. they've got s.w.a.t. teams showing up on scene, a number of vehicles from the oakland police department because this, they believe, is an active scene where the shooter has not been apprehended. he is described as a male in his mid 40s, reportedly may have been a student at the school, but that is not confirmed right now. and they're telling us they believe that he may still be inside the building. we do not yet know the type of weapon used here. we do know that an ambulance has

arrived, and we know that at least three or four people have now been taken away. as far as other victims inside, still very unclear at this time, shannon, but as you can see right now by the heavy police presence, this is an all hands on deck scenario in oakland, california, where at least 6-8 people, we believe, have now been shot, at least one fatality has been confirmed, shannon. >> all right, trace. breaking by the minute. we know you're gathering more information, and we watch it live. we will check back with you in just minutes to see what you've learned. thank you, trace. now to the showdown with iran, the rogue nation defying the world again saying sanctions will not sway it from its nuclear path. just ten day before the western powers hold talks with iran in what could be a last shot at diplomacy, joining us now somebody who has dealt with iran's nuclear 'em ambitions for -- ambitions for nearly a

decade, former ambassador to the u.n., john bolton. great to see you today. what do you think of them saying we've been sidetracked, but it hasn't stopped us at all? it's no good? >> well, part of it is bluster on their part to make it clear to their population and to the five permanent members of the security council in germany that this is not going to be an easy negotiation. but i think there is a core of truth here, and that is that the iranian regime has absolutely no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons program. what they're going to try and do at these negotiations, i think, is play for time. time and not much time is what they need to finish, to cross the goal line and get their nuclear weapons capability. and i think they're just getting people ready for a long period of negotiations. >> how close do you think they are? >> well, you know, defense secretary panetta said that they could do it within a year. i think independent experts have said they could really do it in much less time than that, four

to six months. but i think they are very confident that they're not going to face military action by the united states. so from their perspective, there's no reason to rush. the one fly in that ointment, of course, is the possibility that israel might take military action. but i don't think they're worried about economic sanctions slowing down their nuclear program. >> at this point what do you think are the odds that israel would act before the u.s. does? they've repeatedly stated their right and their sovereignty to defend themselves. they obviously feel because of statements directly from iran's president that their very existence is being threatened. >> well, i think their existence is being threatened, and i think that they're going to make a tough decision sooner rather than later whether to use military force. i think the obama administration is quite worried that israel will strike. in fact, i think the obama administration is more worried about an israeli strike than they are about an iranian nuclear weapon. that's why they're leaking very sensitive information as they did a few days ago about a

potential israeli connection with the government of azerbaijan on iran's northern border to allow israeli planes to stage out of azerbaijan to attack iran. that is unprecedented as far as i know for the u.s. to leak information of one of our closest allies considering self-defense against one of our most important adversaries. >> what do you make of that, ambassador? it sounds to most people who look at the u.s.' long relationship with israel, the long, you know, ally relationship that we have there, what do you make of that leak? >> well, i think it shows the hostility of the obama administration to israel. on this critical point, this is -- as you rightly said -- the iranian nuclear weapons program poses the threat of a second holocaust, a nuclear holocaust for israel. so it shouldn't surprise anybody that they're prepared to act in their own self-defense. it's a very difficult operation

against the iranian nuclear weapons program. being able to stage that attack from places a lot closer than israel is, obviously, a huge logistical advantage for israel. and it's just stunning to see the obama administration revealing that to the government of iran. >> ambassador bolton, always good to see you. thank you. >> thank you, shannon. >> we continue to track breaking news out of california. you're looking live there after an apparent shooting at a christian university. several people, we're told, wounded. the gunman may still be in the building. we will be back with all the latest details as this plays out t next.

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