tonight on "nightline" -- tug-of-war. he was just a baby when he was taken from his illegal immigrant moreov mother. and now, this 5-year-old is in the center of a battle between the american family who adopted him and the parent who never wanted to let him go. slithering invasion. they're the massive snakes, devouring a fragile echo system. and the burmese python is devastating south florida. we'll take you hunting for the everglades most loathe m predator. it was the show that brought us james brown, stevie wonder and michael jackson. and with the passing of its

conductor, we take you for one more ride on "the soul train." good evening. i'm bill weir. crossing the line in search of a better life. it's one of mankind's oldest stories. and in america, immigration is behind one of today's fiercest debates. but tonight, we bring you a story that transcends the argument with a 5-year-old boy, whose mother broke america's rules, only to undergo a forced separation that broke her heart. and there may be thousands of invisible cases just like it. tonight, abc's brian ross investigates. brian? >> reporter: bill, this is a heartbreaking story of how a 5-year-old boy in missouri has ended up in the middle of a tug-of-war, who his parents should be. a tug-of-war triggered on this country's crackdown on illegal immigration. and this abc news investigation,

along with five graduate students, assigned to work with us as carnegie fellows. his name is now jamison. put up for adoption for melinda and seth moser. after a judge ruled his mother had abandoned him. >> i could not love him more, had he come out of me, physically. >> reporter: but now, the adoption is being challenged. next month, the mosers will face the prospect in court of losing their 5-year-old son, who they say knows only one mommy and daddy. >> tried to do everything that we can to raise our boy as our son. and he's our son. >> reporter: it is a sad story. but not just for the mosers. this is jamison's biological brother, encarnacion bail romero, a native of guatemala, who says she wants her son back. a son she named carlitos.

>> translator: i'm the mother of carlitos. i need him to be with me soon. >> reporter: it was 4 1/2 years since her son, carlos, was taken away from her. put up for adoption, against her will, she says. >> translator: i never gave my consent for the boy to be adopted. i couldn't give the adoption, even though i was going to be deported back to my country, i wanted to go back with my son to guatemala. >> reporter: even though she now lives in the same town, just blocks away, she is not permitted to see him while the case is pending. >> translator: i start crying and get sad because he's not with me. i need him with me. >> reporter: the last time she saw carlos was the day she was arrested. a federal immigration raid at this missouri poultry plant. and ended up helpless in a federal prison, 900 miles away. >> translator: i started to ask for help and ask what could i do to find out where my son, carlitos, was. nobody could help me because i don't speak english. >> reporter: the judge ruled her

incarceration resulted to abandonment, and took away her parental rights, because she failed to maintain regular visitation or contact with her son. a difficult task from behind bars. her lawyers say, a punishment for coming to work in america illegally, was to have her son taken away. >> regardless on how you feel about immigration, this country protects family rights. and immigration in itself, is not a reason to terminate parental rights. >> reporter: yet, with a growing number of illegal workers being held at the 18 federal detention centers around the country, human rights groups say, thousands of families are being torn apart by similar rulings. >> we're creating a collateral consequence, in which thousands of children are ripped away from their families, with no real process for being reunited. >> reporter: when parents are detained, often moved far away without notice, their children appear to local judges to be

abandoned, with the parents unable to respond. >> both the immigration systems and the child welfare systems, whether they intend to or not, are participating in a process that separates kids from their families quite often, forever. >> reporter: jamison or carlos, is just 1 of the estimated 5,100 children in 22 states, who were put in foster care or adopted while their parents were detained or deported. is there a federal requirement, when they're detained, if they have children, that accommodations have to be made. >> there's no special requirement. >> reporter: so, the agents just ignore that. >> some will pay attention to it. others don't. >> reporter: some say the blame belongs to the parents, for coming into this country illegally in the first place. >> that is in the nature of what happens. when parents break the law, they undertake a certain amount of risk. there's going to be consequences. >> reporter: in the case of encarnacion, the judge concluded that smuggling herself into the

country illegally, is not a lifestyle that can provide any stability for a child. but he apparently ignored what encarnacion's lawyers call the serious criminal history and drug use, as a teenager, by the adoptive father, seth moser. lawyers have declined comment to abc news. as for the judge, david dally, he told abc news, he stands by his ruling. >> obviously, i thought the judgment was fair when i issued the judgment. yes. >> reporter: but the missouri supreme court has overruled judge dally, calling his decision a travesty of justice. for now, encarnacion has been allowed to stay in the u.s. so she can go to court and fight for the return of the son she has not seen in 4 1/2 years. >> translator: i'm thankful he is in good hands. but as carlitos' mother, i need him to be with me because i am his real mother. >> reporter: the fate of jamison or carlos will be decided in a new trial, set to begin february

28th in missouri. a different judge has been assigned to the case. and advocates on both sides of the immigration debate are weighing in on the difficult decision that will shape this little boy's life. bill? >> where is king solomon when we need him most? brian, thanks for that. just ahead, we wade into the everglades to encounter a predator, a new study claims is squeezing out most other life. what's the matter? uh, trouble with a car insurance claim. ah, claim trouble. [ dennis ] you should just switch to allstate, and get their new claim satisfaction guarantee. hey, he's right man. [ dennis ] only allstate puts their money where their mouth is. yup. [ dennis ] claim service so good, it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can always count on them. unlike randy over there. that's one dumb dude. ♪ the new claim satisfaction guarantee. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. they have a python problem in the everglades these days. in fact, a prestigious science journal has just put out a new study finding that sightings of

some mammal species in that area have declined by 99%. the big nonnative snakes are catching the blame. but are the pythons really responsible for florida's silent swamps? abc's matt gutman goes in deep to get the story. >> did you see that? >> reporter: what do you do with the snakes once you catch them? riding shotgun, on patrol with captain jeff fobb, likely means you'll often come closer to fangs than you ever thought healthy. fobb is with miami-dade fire and rescue's response unit. you don't reach your hand in there? >> that would be asking for trouble. >> reporter: his specialty, pythons. and he keeps the evasive pythons he and his team catch, in these cages at his house. >> this one is more and ready and capable of putting up a very, very vigorous defense. >> reporter: yeah. no kidding. he patrols dade county, including its section of the vast everglades, one of the

world's largest wetlands opin s. it's also the epicenter of burmese pythons. a remarkably hearty animal, with a voracious appetite. this 16-foot monster was recently caught after choking down a deer. but the snakes will eat almost anything. this iconic shot, gator versus python. and it turns out, they'll eat almost everything. that's where fobb comes in. he's both the pythons' nemesis and their advocate. >> if he was so bad, at gauging distance, he'd never be able to eat. >> reporter: and i was going to be his latest protege. we took "nightline" out to his office for the day, the everglades national park. >> everything has an impact. and you know, considering the nature of the everglades, a very unique ecosystem.

and it's got not just the pythons but a number of other pressures. so, it's kind of the death of a thousand cuts. >> reporter: but the deepest cut, from these critters. and the tutorial begins. that's it? >> i that's why we're wearing boots. >> reporter: now, it's my turn. tentative at first. don't look at me. >> exactly. you want him in that flight mode, where the animal is moving away from you. >> reporter: i will admit, i'm a little nervous right now. finally -- like this? >> yeah. >> reporter: i muster my courage. >> that's excellent. >> reporter: then, getting the snake back into the pillowcase, not that easy. squirming. and to the big one. >> his body. >> reporter: eight feet long. now, catching them is one thing. finding them, fobb shows me, is entirely different. >> you look at how amazing that camouflage is. >> reporter: he just disappeared. >> he just disappeared in front of our eyes.

it's really, really well-suited to this type of environment, where you have a range of birds, mammals. >> reporter: have you noticed the decline of some of the fauna here? >> it's pretty obvious, that some of the animals are fewer than they were years ago. raccoons, possums, and things. and there could be any number of reasons that occurs. however, it seems to coincide with these guys. but if that's the only reason, you know, we don't know. >> reporter: in fact, nobody seems to know how many pythons are really out there. >> there's almost no information, really, or very little, about what this population is doing. >> reporter: sean hensley, from nat geo wild's program. we spent a day of thrashing around the swamps with them. and nothing. >> 150,000 was really perpetuated by politicians. politicians got ahold of the top end of that scale, which even the biologists who came up with that says that's unrealistic.

>> reporter: the nat geo trio claimed the infestation began in a homestead hatchery, after 1992's hurricane andrew. in 2009, the state of florida declared open season on pythons the some hunters were permitted to shoot the snakes on sight. when you teach your hunters, you don't train them to kill the animals? >> it's all humane and safety capture. >> reporter: finally, my test. she's big. and she's hissing at me. >> she's a little bigger. >> reporter: i follow the advice and back off a little bit. >> pin his head. >> reporter: then, pounce. eight feet of muscle tightened around my arm. all right. wow. notch another victory of man versus reptile. except in this case, the last laugh goes to the reptile. >> she's going the bathroom. >> reporter: yep. for "nightline," i'm matt gutman, in the everglades. >> a new season of "python hunters" begins in april on

nat geo wild. next up, before mtv, there was "soul train." tonight, we turn back the clock to show a little respect. [ bird chirping ] [ snoring ] [ clears throat ] hop to, gang. it's showtime. uh, do you know this guy? i'm not gonna cry, am i? only if you don't believe in the power of friendship. really? you guys are good. [ male announcer ] your favorite movies right when you want them. watch unlimited tv episodes and movies instantly through your game console or other devices, all for only 8 bucks a month from netflix. that's so cute, it's stupid.

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to say that the '70s and '80s tv hit "soul train" changed a culture, is to fall short.

with the news today that shows 75-year-old mastermind don cornelius was found dead at his home of apparent suicide, we want to go back across the tracks of time. here's abc's chris connelly. >> "soul train." >> reporter: what don cornelius created for television -- >> right on time for a beautiful trip on "the soul train." >> reporter: became the most influential music show of its time. but calling "soul train" african-american "american bandstand" missings the point. the first guest, gladys knight and the pips. over the years, stevie wonder. ♪ i'm a believer >> reporter: the jackson 5. ♪ dancing machine oh, baby ♪ >> reporter: james brown. ♪

and so many other greats. ♪ let's get it on, baby >> reporter: even aretha franklin, who recalled cornelius today. >> everybody watched "soul train" and don cornelius. he was the gentleman, first, last and always. i loved "soul train." i watched it regularly every week. i went on many times. it absolutely quadrupled my audience, sales and so on. >> reporter: contemporary music by african-americans. the network variety shows back then, was placed front and center here. >> this felt like, oh, my god. this is for me. they know who i am. they know the music i like. >> reporter: the show became a destination for white artists, too. david bowie and elton john, among them. but cornelius always envisioned it as a show by and for black

audiences. >> when it came on, it was overnight hot. almost in minutes, every black person in town knew about it. not because it was such a wonderful show. but because it was theirs. >> reporter: and by doing so, don cornelius rallied and celebrated an entire culture, and became the envy of young people around the world. with all of its strength, pride and unassailable cool. because as everyone knew, the biggest stars on "soul train," weren't the singers. they were the dancers. their moves. their style. their sexiness, watched intensely by every high school student in america. destined for just a bit of that singularness on the dance floor. >> platforms. bell bottoms. afros. big afros. >> reporter: while the bell bottoms and the afros may evoke a smile or two today, never doubt the significance, or the exuberant artistry, that

gavelized artists over 20 years. >> everyone seeing what was going down, they can watch all episodes of "soul train." that's how we got down. >> reporter: whether you were a black kid from chicago. or a white kid from westchester. it felt like a blessing from the high priest, whose impact will be felt in american music and culture, long after his death today. >> i hope he knew at the very end what he gave to us all because it's amazing. his contribution to african-american culture and his contribution to american culture, if it's ever forgotten, we should be ashamed. >> i'm don cornelius. and as always in party, we wish you love, peace and soul. >> reporter: i'm chris connelly for "nightline," in los angeles. >> thanks, chris. and thanks to vh1 for some of that amazing footage there. the "soul train" documentary will reair friday night. coming up tomorrow on "nightline," he's the latest heartthrob for teen