The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

Intro JIM LEHRER: Good evening. Leading the news this Tuesday, Syria put its forces on alert in Lebanon as Israeli troops moved close to Syrian positions. More workers joined the strikes in Poland, and primary voters in Ohio and Indiana were expected to move Michael Dukakis closer to the Democratic presidential nomination. We'll have the details in our news summary in a moment. Robin? ROBERT MacNEIL: After the news summary, two Polish observers look at the new labor unrest in that country. Then, as the amnesty provision of the new immigration law expires, we have a documentary report and a discussion of the questions it raises with INS Commissioner Alan Nelson and Congressman Bill Richardson. Next, a documentary report from California on unorthodox therapies for desperate AIDS patients. And we close with a Roger Rosenblatt essay about the addictive nature of books. News Summary MacNEIL: Syria put its forces in Lebanon on alert today as Israeli troops pushed close to Syrian lines in its two day old search and destroy mission. Chris Niles of Visnews has a report.

CHRIS NILES, Visnews: Two thousand Israeli troops crossed the Southern lebanon security zone in search of Palestinian guerillas. Security sources said more than 1500 troops, backed by helicopters and tanks, raided villages up to 10 kilometers inside the security zone. The incursion stopped an alert amongst nearby Syrian troops. The soldiers swept along the Western slopes of Mt. Herman. More than 2000 residents were rounded up for investigation. Many fled to nearby mountains. Troops set up a checkpoint in one village to prevent journalists entering, and combed the slopes for guerillas in hiding. The raids are in response to recent Palestinian efforts to infiltrate Israel. In Beirut, acting Prime Minister Selim Hoss said Lebanon would complain to the United Nations. SELIM HOSS, Acting Lebanese Prime Minister: The only thing we can do is complain to the United Nations and call upon the international community to help us force the Israeli occupation forces to withdraw from South Lebanon.

NILES: But Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said the raids were routine and there was no risk of a clash with Syria. MacNEIL: The Israeli raid into Lebanon is its first major incursion since its limited invasion of 1985, and follows eight attempts by Palestinian gunmen to cross into Israel this year, in which 17 guerillas and five Israeli soldiers were killed. The White House said today it deplored the increasing violence in Lebanon and called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops without naming Israel. There was new violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip today, as Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinian protestors and wounded several others. Recently, government officials have been saying that the Palestinian uprising in the Occupied Territories was waning. Jim? LEHRER: The U. S. issued an official terrorist warning today about Iran. The State Department told American diplomats and businessmen throughout the world to be on the lookout. State Department spokesman Charles Redman put it this way.

CHARLES REDMAN, State Department spokesman: The government of Iran has practiced terrorism for the past nine years. Senior Iranian officials in recent weeks have threatened terrorist acts in retaliation for U. S. actions in the Gulf. The U. S. takes all such threats seriously and has advised post to take appropriate precautions. But as -- following standard practice, I'm not going to comment on what the specific precautions are. LEHRER: Admiral William Crowe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in the Persian Gulf today. He is there to review U. S. Navy operations aimed at thwarting Iranian attacks on shipping. The third convoy of U. S. --flagged Kuwaiti tankers in five days sailed up the Gulf today. There have been no incidents between U. S. and Iranian forces since the major confrontation two weeks ago. MacNEIL: In Poland, striking workers intensified their protests today, demanding that the outlawed union, Solidarity, be made legal again. The government thought that demand no negotiable. More than 7000 strikers gathered at the Lenin shipyards in Gdansk, where solidarity was born eight years ago, only to be crushed when martial law was declared. Lech Walesa, the leader of that struggle, addressed the strikers today, calling for a decisive protest to put Poland on the road to reform. ''We want these words to be heard in the Soviet Union,'' Walesa said. ''If we don't make reforms peacefully together with the nation, then we are threatened with a revolution, and a bloody one. '' The shipyard strikers and steelworkers in Southern Poland are demanding pay boosts of up to 60% to meet higher prices. LEHRER: This was primary day in Ohio, Indiana, and the District of Columbia. Michael Dukakis was the heavy favorite to win Ohio and Indiana. Jesse Jackson was favored in D. C. Voters are electing 238 national convention delegates in Ohio and Indiana, only 16 in the District. So if all three follow the projections, it will mean another major step for Dukakis for the Democratic nomination. MacNEIL: In Philadelphia, a special grand jury sharply criticized Mayor Wilson Goode and former city officials for the handling of the 1985 MOVE disaster. Eleven people were killed and 61 homes destroyed after a police helicopter dropped a bomb on a building occupied by a black radical sect known as MOVE. While it stopped short of recommending any criminal indictments, the panel said Goode delegated too much authority, deferred too often, and asked too few questions in an effort to stop the siege. A Federal Grand Jury is also probing the incident, and a report is expected in the next few months. LEHRER: The Environmental Protection Agency today put out its annual list of cities not in compliance with clean air laws. The nation's 24 largest metropolitan areas were all held in noncompliance with either carbon monoxide or ozone standards. The largest city in compliance with both was Kansas City. MacNEIL: A federal panel warned today that unless major changes are made in school curricula, America's high school students could become cultural illiterates. In a report to Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts said that high school students should have to study arts, such as dance, theatre or film to graduate. The panel described arts education in U. S. schools is nonexistent. It recommended a national goal of making arts and music an integral part of the school curricula from kindergarten through the 12th grade. LEHRER: President Reagan denied today that any of his policies or decisions were influenced by astrology. But White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Mrs. Reagan did follow astrology and used it to help check on some of her husband's activities. Astrology is the study of how planets and starts supposedly influence human affairs. The Reagan's use of it was first publicly raised in a forthcoming book by former White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan. He says Mrs. Reagan consulted astrologers in helping determine Mr. Reagan's schedule. This morning at a White House ceremony, the President was asked about that report.

REPORTER: What do you say about reports that your schedules were based upon astrological forecasts? Pres. RONALD REAGAN: Well, I am making it a promise not to comment on these books they keep putting out. But no policies or decision of mine have ever been influenced by astrology. REPORTER: How about schedules, Mr. President, has your schedule ever been determined by an astrological forecast? Pres. REAGAN: You know, I'm still looking for the fellow to tell me every day what I'm going to do. MacNEIL: That's our summary of the news. Now it's on to new unrest in Poland, troubles for immigrants, new therapies for AIDS and Roger Rosenblatt on books. Poles Apart LEHRER: We go first tonight to the story in Poland, the story of workers again rising up in defiance against their government.

[voice over]: The strikes began last week, protest against big price rises imposed by the government. Polish shoppers have been confronted by price hikes as big as 45% just since January. What began as a protest by transport workers from the town of Bydgoszcz spread to one of the country's major steelworks near Krakow. Another steel strike in Stalowa Wola was settled with a big pay raise. But on Monday, the labor unrest moved to a highly symbolic location, the Lenin shipyard in the Baltic port of Gdansk. It was here that labor unrest brought down a government in 1970, and where the Solidarity movement began a decade later. At Gdansk, for the first time, strikers raised political as well as economic issues. Besides calling for big pay raises, the workers also demanded the legalization of solidarity. That trade union and opposition movement was banned in 1982, shortly after the government imposed martial law on Poland. In their demonstrations yesterday, workers called for the release of all political prisoners and rehiring of all workers who lost their jobs under martial law. The government countered by arresting regional leaders of Solidarity in several cities. The original leader of Solidarity, Lech Walesa, visited the shipyard, gave the workers words of encouragement, but also insisted he did not organize the strike. [on camera] Some analysis of the situation now. Aleksander Smolar was an opposition leader in Poland before the rise of Solidarity. He's now the Polish language editor of the political quarterly Annex in Paris. Jamuz Bughaski is a research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Prior to that, he covered Poland as a senior research analyst for Radio Free Europe in Munich, West Germany. Is this likely to develop into the same kind of major confrontation of eight years ago? JAMUZ BUGHASKI, Center for Strategic & International Studies: Well, at the moment, I think it's showing signs of doing just that. There are differences, of course, with 1980. In other words, the government is better prepared I think to crack down on a renewed unrest and the massive unrest on the scale of 1980, and they've had the experience of martial law, the pacification of martial law. On the other hand, the resentment, the hostility, has been building up over the past seven or eight years, and it is potentially a very, very explosive situation. LEHRER: Is this a new unrest, or is it a carryover, has it been simmering for eight years as a result of martial law, the result of what happened six years ago, beating down Solidarity? ALEKSANDER SMOLAR, former Polish opposition leader: Both. First, we had already similar patterns since '56, already several times; '70 and '76, '80. So you have in collective memories the results of those confrontations with solidarity rising. And this is of course effect of those lessons, but also of next eight years and sort of hopelessness built in relation with the economic situation, which is disastrous today, without issue perceived by the society, and actually by the people on the government side either. They were promising economic reforms already after introduction of state (unintelligible) crushing legal solidarity in '81. That reform didn't work. They promised the next time. And this is how they justify their rise, dramatic rise, of prices -- already this year 45%. And in official -- LEHRER: Forty five percent, the price has gone up, right. Mr. SMOLAR: You can read in the official press, already this reform doesn't work either. So this, to a big extent, the facts of both processes. LEHRER: Is it more economics thus far than politics? Mr. BUGHASKI: Well, economics is the spark. Economics is the bread and butter, it's what people see on the daily basis. But the grievances go much deeper. The grievances go back for example to the 1950s. LEHRER: But if they had been able to deliver on their economic promises of 1981, etc. , would they have had the problem they've got now strictly on the political issues? Mr. BUGHASKI: Well, they couldn't deliver on these promises without somehow involving independent public groups in the process. And this is part of the problem. For the past eight years they've excluded all independent public groups, elected, freely elected, representatives of Polish society from decision making. It's not surprising that when it comes to the crunch there's nobody to talk to. LEHRER: And also nobody to solve the economic problem, is that what you're suggesting? In other words, to solve the economic problems, and to deliver on their promises they had to make political reforms that they didn't make? Is that what you're saying? Mr. BUGHASKI: Well, political reforms are an essential part of any economic reforms in this sort of society. Now, they've barred all access to political reform by crushing solidarity, by crushing people who are very reasonable, very moderate, who are willing to negotiate with the government and who themselves do have some control over the work force. These are people who are in touch with the workers, in touch with the workers on a grass roots level. LEHRER: But they wouldn't touch them. They're not going to negotiate this time, are they? Mr. SMOLAR: Nobody knows. I think that one of the explanations of Lech Walesa's declaration today, that I am not any more leader and so on, this is that he would like to somehow detach himself from direct involvement in this strike in order to be able to play the role of intermediary. If the -- LEHRER: If it comes to that -- Mr. SMOLAR: -- if it comes to it. LEHRER: Is there another Lech Walesa that will take over and lead this movement? Mr. SMOLAR: Of course not. Everybody -- Lech Walesa is a symbolic figure. This is the workers' authentic leader, and this is symbolic -- nobody can really play this role. And he knows very well. The problem is the authorities try to invite a representative of authentic public opinion and probably there are no possibilities of finding peaceful solution for this crisis without -- LEHRER: No peaceful solution possible? Mr. SMOLAR: I think -- if they will speak to a representative of the society -- you asked the question whether it's possible to get rid of economic problems without political concession. You know there is -- Soviet poets say that it is easy to transform an aquarium into a fish soup. But is it possible to transform fish soup into aquarium. It is possible to make economy work which was destroyed. You know, this economy, this country was destroyed during the Second World War much more than any other European country. And five years after the war, this country was reconstructed. (unintelligible) in peaceful times, this country cannot able to achieve the level of economic activities of '78, after ten years. So this is explanation of this movement. LEHRER: Sure. Mr. BUGHASKI: Living standards have actually dropped now to a level which they were in the late '70s, in the 1970s. So there's a regression, economic regression, which people feel every day. And things are going to get much worse before they get better. LEHRER: Okay, let's talk about what might happen from this point on. I realize that nobody has any crystal balls here. But you all are informed, so I'm going to ask you to do the best you can. Lech Walesa, let's use what he said today. As Robin reported, what he said was unless the government is willing to make some concession and make them quickly, the country's going to turn into a bloody revolutionary pla -- there's going to be a bloody revolution. Is that just rhetoric, or is that a real possibility? Mr. SMOLAR: No, I think what he means is concessions not simply giving into certain wage demands, but for much more far reaching concessions, political concessions, concessions to labor union pluralism. Which is really the first demand, the most important demand. LEHRER: But one of their demands is to -- is a recognition of Solidarity. I mean, that's never going to happen, is it? Mr. BUGHASKI: You never know. The arguments they use, the authorities I mean, was -- it was sort of esoteric language -- that Soviet Union does not allow us to accept such concessions. Well, today they cannot use this argument anymore. Changes in Soviet Union. LEHRER: Because of Gorbachev's reforms. Mr. BUGHASKI: Exactly. And this is why also Walesa, he addressed himself directly to Soviet leaders. He knows that this is very weak point of Polish authorities. They cannot use any more the argument of Soviet intervention. LEHRER: But they still have the army, they still have the guns. Are they likely to use them? Mr. SMOLAR: Of course they could still crush the strikes. But I mean, where do we go from there? You're back to where you started in 1981. And certainly you're not going to spur productivity, it's certainly not going to motivate workers. LEHRER: Has the -- do I read you all both correctly in saying that the attitude of the government toward this has not changed a bit? Jaruzelski's view toward this movement and everything has not changed? Mr. SMOLAR: Well, all evidence for the past seven years, seven, eight years, points to the fact that Jaruzelski hasn't been, doesn't want to, admit to the fact that there is an independent public opinion which is free of state control. They've tried to create various puppet institutions and negotiate with, to give the pretense of negotiation with society. Most people aren't buying it. LEHRER: Are the people going to -- is this thing likely to spread? Is it, does it have a potential for growing and growing and growing? Or is it -- is there enough momentum behind it now to keep it going? Mr. BUGHASKI: Nobody knows. You know, when Solidarity was born the summer of '80, one moment everybody was convinced that the strike was over, and it was the beginning of Solidarity. So really it's impossible to predict. Mr. SMOLAR: I talked with people in Poland today, and they told me all eyes are on Gdansk. It's almost like a symbol. If Gdansk falls, maybe there won't be other strikes. If Gdansk holds, who knows, it could spread. LEHRER: Falls, meaning -- Mr. SMOLAR: Falls, that the strike collapses. LEHRER: Do you agree? Mr. BUGHASKI: I think, however, there are some other symbols. For example, Nowa Huta, this is Lenin's name. It was constructed by communist authorities, the town, the foundry. Mr. SMOLAR: Both are Lenin's names, the shipyard and the -- Mr. BUGHASKI: This is anamazing sort of irony of history. And this is also symbolically very loud, this is the stronghold of workers movements -- LEHRER: It's always been that way -- what about -- what is the Soviet Union's attitude toward this? The new Soviet attitude likely to be toward this new uprising in Poland? If we're going to speculate, let's really speculate. What do you think? Mr. SMOLAR: I think Gorbachev is looking to Poland with anguish. I mean, just at a time when they're apparently about to withdraw from Afghanistan, here is Poland on their front lawn, potentially exploding in their face again. LEHRER: But what does he do, what does he tell Jaruzelski? Mr. SMOLAR: You'd have to ask Jaruzelski what he told him? LEHRER: I know -- I'm asking you. Mr. BUGHASKI: Well, I would risk hypothesis -- of course, try to find a peaceful solution. Like he tries -- LEHRER: That's what I was trying to get at -- would Gorbachev be saying, Get in there and crush these people militarily quickly and get it over with? Or negotiate? Or what's your gut say? Mr. SMOLAR: I was just going to say the important thing for them is to end this as soon as possible. And then make sure it doesn't provoke a political crisis, a crisis in the leadership of the party. I mean, Jaruzelski after so many years was finally accepted. Martial law at first was viewed, Well, we'll see whether it succeeds. Now it's a question of, Has it succeeded? Or has martial (unintelligible) failed, and what do we do now? Obviously they want a peaceful solution, but when it comes to the crunch, I don't think they're going to hold back from using force. LEHRER: And with the support of the Soviets? Mr. BUGHASKI: As you know, we have strategic stakes very important, and the problem of whole relation between the East and West. So it's not only internal Polish problem, it's not only internal problem of the Soviet bloc. And this makes even more dramatic for them how to find the solution for -- LEHRER: And because of what happened eight years ago, we're talking about it here in America, they're talking about it all over the world tonight. And they will continue, and that will obviously influence things. Gentlemen, thank you both very much for being with us tonight. MacNEIL: Still to come on the NewsHour, troubles with the new immigration law, unorthodox AIDS treatment, and Rosenblatt on addiction to books. Amnesty for All MacNEIL: Tomorrow, Wednesday, at midnight, the clock runs out for millions of illegal aliens. That's the last chance they'll have to apply for legal residence in this country under the Immigration Service's year long amnesty program. It was designed to offer legal status and eventually citizenship to between two and four million undocumented workers while drying up the job market for future illegals at the same time. We'll be talking to the Immigration Service Commissioner and a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on how the new immigration policy is working. First, though, correspondent Tom Bearden has a report on how it's affected one immigrant family in Texas.

TOM BEARDEN: Ten members of the Martinez family live in this tiny apartment in El Paso. There's barely enough room to turn around. They eat in shifts, often standing up. Bunk beds are stacked three high in the kitchen. But for all of that, they say it's a lot better than where they came from in Southern Mexico. The family waded across the Rio Grande River in 1981 and have been in the U. S. ever since. That qualified them to apply for amnesty under the immigration bill Congress passed in 1986. Five of them have completed the process and have been approved as temporary resident aliens, a status that can eventually lead to citizenship. To this family, that means a great deal indeed. They can go to the part whenever they want to and not worry about getting picked up by the border patrol agents that sometimes cruise the area. These temporary resident alien cards take the fear out of going to the grocery store. Or the hospital. MARIA MARTINEZ: One of my brothers, he, with the little card, he was sick. When we get sick, we stay sick, but now he can go into the hospital and he can get opinion because he now has a card. BEARDEN: So he can go to the hospital and not be worried about being picked up by the Immigration? Ms. MARTINEZ: Yes.

BEARDEN: Legal status also means people can't take advantage of them quite so easily any more. Mrs. MARTINEZ [through translator]: When we lived in a certain neighborhood, the apartments, they were going to tear them down. Then the owner called immigration and we have to leave.

BEARDEN: An American success story? Not quite. Martinez is not their real name. We were asked to conceal it. They're afraid of being too conspicuous because only five applications have been approved so far. Four family members are still waiting to hear from the District Office. One has been rejected. ANDREW RODRIGUEZ, Catholic Conference: What the service is saying is that the 19 year old, Maria, has failed to show sufficient documentation to merit granting her legalization. It's kind of crazy, because the other five submitted pretty much the same documentation.

BEARDEN: Andrew Rodriguez is the regional legalization director for the U. S. Catholic Conference. Mr. RODRIGUEZ: I think that's what's happening at the regional offices all over the country. You're having the same family go up, it's being divvied up to different adjudicators, and you have different decisions.

BEARDEN: The irony is that Maria wants very badly to serve the government that has rejected her. Ms. MARTINEZ: I want to get into the Army. The sooner the better, because you have more opportunities, and I want to make a career in the army, I plan to go into computers or communications -- my career concerning that.

BEARDEN: Maria will appeal. But what is happening to this family is what undocumented families fear most about amnesty, the possibility that they could be forced to split up because some of their relatives don't qualify and might be deported. Rodriguez says there is far too much individual discretion being exercised by INS employees. Mr. RODRIGUEZ: You have some very good officers, you have some very bad officers who don't function as they ought to. So it's turned out to be pretty much a personality program. Depending on who you've got in your particular city to be your legalization director will depend on how well your own particular program functions.

BEARDEN: INS Deputy Commissioner Mark Everson. MARK EVERSON, Deputy Commissioner, INS: Well, that's one of the attributes of our system. We aren't a mechanistic system where there is no judgment left to the individual. So of course everybody is a little bit different. But I can just tell you I've traveled all over the country. We've got a couple of thousand people working on this program. Everybody's doing their level best to encourage the aliens to come forward and to work cooperatively with them. So I just don't think it's true to say that some people are being too tough.

BEARDEN: This is one of those legalization offices. The line of applicants was 100 yards long one morning two weeks ago. Many of these people had been there all night, sleeping on the sidewalk. When the doors finally opened, the line began to inch forward, people clutching manila folders filled with the papers they hoped would prove they qualified. A ten foot fiberglass replica of the Statue of Liberty lifted her lamp beside the golden door, although this door had bars on it. This lady also required her customers to have a number before they could be served. But should there have been even more families like the Martinez family coming forward? Even with this last minute surge, the number of applications is far below everyone's projections, including the INS's. Critics charge the turnout was low because the agency had dragged its feet advertising amnesty. Mr. RODRIGUEZ: They know the publicity campaign never ever got off the ground. And they had a multimillion dollar contract to get the word out to the general public. It never got off the ground. And when it got off the ground, it had people like Eddie Albert -- noted Hispanic figure, right? -- speaking in English. Mexican people to go and apply!

BEARDEN: The agency said it did use foreign language television commercials like this one and other forms of advertising. They say their study showed they had been extremely successful alerting people to the program. Critics also contend a lot of people haven't applied because they are afraid of being rejected. They argue for more time, saying the government should extend amnesty for an additional six months. Mr. RODRIGUEZ: They had a projected four million figure. Four million people who were projected to apply. Tom, they've had 1. 3, 1. 4. Where are the rest? They're out there somewhere.

BEARDEN: The INS disagrees. Mr. EVERSON: We just don't think it's necessary. These people -- the word is out. They're coming forward in great numbers, and they're really only coming forward because of the end of the program. If you move it back, they'll just come forward later.

BEARDEN: The House recently voted to extend the application period until November. But last week the Senate rejected a similar proposal. The Catholic Charities Office in El Paso, which has processed thousands of aliens, sees a problem even for those who make the deadline. They are concerned that most aliens don't realize that the initial application and approval is just the beginning, that there is one more critical hurdle to leap before they can become fullfledged Americans. The law requires aliens to take a test in English, civics and U. S. history within the next 30 months. If they don't take it, or fail it, they revert to an undocumented status. Mr. RODRIGUEZ: We've encountered a substantial number of people who are barely literate in their native language. Now they're going to have to get literate in English? Enough to where they can speak it and write it? And then they're going to have to be able to answer questions on American history and the American government. We're talking enormous task. BEARDEN: And they're going to have to do that while still working to support themselves. Mr. RODRIGUEZ: Absolutely. This is the first time that Congress has ever required an English test for someone to get permanent residence. It's unprecedented.

BEARDEN: Rodriguez thinks most people will never even try to take the test. Mr. RODRIGUEZ: I think this will be wholesale. It's going to happen insubstantial numbers all over the country. BEARDEN: How substantial? Mr. RODRIGUEZ: How substantial? I would say half will not be a bad guess.

BEARDEN: Down on the Rio Grande, it's business as usual. Young entrepreneurs collect the customary one dollar toll to cross this porous international boundary. The border patrol says this kind of traffic has slowed since employer sanctions have started to dry up the job market for illegal aliens. But Rodriguez charges the patrol has been trying to sabotage amnesty by deporting people they know meet the requirements for legalization. Mr. RODRIGUEZ: The border patrol has been kicking people out of this country that qualify left and right. So these people then have to prove to somebody in the Immigration Service office that they shouldn't have been kicked out in the first place. GUS DE LA VINA, U. S. Border Patrol: That's bull. The border patrol has been given the responsibility of the employer sanctions. We have all kinds of activities. As far as sabotaging the program, no, we are definitely enforcing it, we are within the guidelines, we have done -- you know, to the point where we do not go by the legalization centers. We are very conscious of the fact that it's a sensitive area and we don't violate that. I think we've been more than fair. And the statement there in one word is ridiculous.

BEARDEN: Despite all the arguments over the program, amnesty has already dramatically changed life for thousands of previously illegal aliens. Particularly children. Seven year old Lilia Martinez can pledge her allegiance to the stars and stripes at school every morning and know that she is now protected by the laws of the country that flag symbolizes. But the fear remains for her sister Maria. For the moment she is still an illegal alien, part of an underground culture the immigration bill was designed to eliminate. She is a major contributor to the family income. If she is ultimately rejected, she probably won't be able to find work. But the family says they won't let a negative decision break up their family. Legally or not, this family says they will stay together and stay in America. MacNEIL: Joining us now to discuss the immigration law on the eve of the amnesty deadline are Alan Nelson, Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the man in charge of implementing the new immigration laws. And Congressman Bill Richardson, Democrat of New Mexico, member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and a strong critic of the decision not to extend the amnesty deadline. Commissioner Nelson, is the amnesty program working when so many fewer than expected are applying? ALAN NELSON, Commissioner, INS: That is an erroneous statement, unfortunately, Robin. The numbers are coming in dramatically. We expect to have two million people coming in by the deadline tomorrow night at midnight. We hope that if there are others out there, of course, they come in. I know Congressman Richardson agrees with that. But the numbers are coming in well and this has been four or five times more successful than all of the programs in the rest of the world's countries combined that have had similar programs. MacNEIL: Do you agree with that, Congressman? Rep. BILL RICHARDSON, (D) New Mexico: Well, I just wish we would have extended the deadline. I think it was the humane thing to do. There were some problems with the public education effort, although I do think it was a massively difficult job and a lot of dedicated INS employees did their best. Thirdly, there is alot of people out there, close to 500,000 to 2. 7 million. What's going to happen to them? Some of them can't read. They're excessively poor. I just think that it would have been very easy to extend that deadline. On the whole, though, I think we've got to look at what happens after May 4. I'd like to try to be positive, but nonetheless, it would have been easy and the humane and the right and the efficient thing to do to extend that deadline. MacNEIL: Okay, let's come back to what happens after May 4 in a moment. But just discuss the numbers for a moment. First of all, commissioner, why were you opposed to extending the deadline? Mr. NELSON: The main reason for opposing the extension was that Congress made it very clear when they passed the law a year and a half ago that this was a one time only program. The amnesty. Remember the purpose of the law was to stop illegal immigration. Extension of this program when Congress said it would be a one time only and one year program, would send a terrible message South of the Border. Congressman Richardson's state would be directly affected. This would be a magnet for more illegal immigrants, because they would say that they are not serious about keeping this program within the bounds that they said. MacNEIL: Anyway, Congress has decided that now, Congressman, that it won't be. Or the Senate has refused to do it. So it's not going to be extended beyond tomorrow midnight. Do you agree with the commissioner that two million is the right figure by tomorrow night? Because all the estimates I've seen reading on this today are only up to 1. 3 or 1. 4 million. Rep. RICHARDSON: The figures that we have are 1. 2, 1. 3. The problem is who is out there, and adequate and substantial studies show that it could be close to 500,000, or could be up to 2. 7 million. Immigration experts. MacNEIL: Who are failing to apply? Rep. RICHARDSON: Who are failing to apply. And I don't think that they're procrastinators. I don't think they're trying to evade the law. There's been problems with the application fee. There's been problems with public education. There's been changes in some of the entry guidelines. The court decision, for instance, that allowed student visas, to those with student visas to come in. INS has tried to do a good job. And it's a massive job. I don't want to trash the INS. But I think the extension, pursuing with even a three month extension, would have been the right thing to do. And now the question is what happens with those that can't get in that will not make it by May 4. Many of them probably qualify. MacNEIL: Commissioner, let's move on to some of the other points in the report we just saw. The point that is made by critics of the INS, the way the procedures are going, that within one family, different members of the same family can be seen by different adjudicators and get different results. There was an example given there. What's your comment on that? Mr. NELSON: First, though, looking at the numbers. The numbers speak for themselves. As of yesterday, we had 1. 85 million that have come forward. By the end of today, tomorrow, we believe it will go over 2 million. And there's still, remember, another seven months on the agricultural program as well as some of the others. So I don't think there's any question on that. As far as the families, remember that each of these people came into this country illegally. It was a great act of generosity by the U. S. Congress in a bipartisan effort, Democrats and Republicans, and the Reagan Administration, to have a balanced law, to enforce the law against illegal entry, to keep illegal aliens from getting jobs or welfare. The balance being the amnesty program. And it's working very well. And a lot won't qualify because they came here after 1982. They should return to their home countries. They have no right to be here legally. I think Mr. Everson, the deputy commissioner on that segment, answered it very well. We are human beings. We're dealing with other human beings. I don't think anybody would like a computer to take it. I'd like to see what Mr. Rodriguez, how he would do it. And if there are other people out there, as the congressman says, well, why don't the Catholics and the other groups that say they know where these people are bring them forward? We've asked them to go out and recruit. And yet there's been not much effort. And I think the point is that 95% knew about this program by surveys taken, and we're thinking the numbers are showing a very, very high turnout. MacNEIL: Congressman, how do you respond to that criticism that was made by Mr. Rodriguez, that there's too much individual discretion among the adjudicators. He called it a personality program. Rep. RICHARDSON: Well, I would prefer to deal with human beings rather than computers. But there's been some instances where I think the INS could have done more to train their officers bilingually. I'm disappointed the commissioner said a lot of these Catholic groups, these community action groups, didn't do their job. Well, many of them didn't have their resources. They tried very hard in my home state and the border states. I don't think it's good to say that someone didn't do their job. The main concern that I have is what are we going to do next. What's going to happen with those that are out there that really -- you have a case where the agency that for years busted you is now asking you to trust them. And I think the natural reaction of a human being is to say, Well, I have to wait. I'm going to get all my papers in order. And it's not procrastination, it's fear. These people come from governments like El Salvador, like Guatemala, where there's been repression. Where the idea of government is simply repression. MacNEIL: Well, let's ask the commissioner, what does happen to those who for whatever reason, have not applied? What happens after midnight tomorrow? Does the INS start a big sweep to round them up and deport them? Mr. NELSON: No, we don't. And let me go back to the congressman's point, too. The fear factor is a myth; 80% of the people came directly to INS. And I think that dispels the fear factor. A lot of these church groups did an excellent job, don't get me wrong. But if there are more people out there, I think they can bring them in. I think it belies the point that there probably aren't more out there. After the deadline is over, again if they don't qualify, they stay in the exact same status they've been. They're here illegally. They ought to return home. There will not be major sweeps. For example, we assured the Mexican government a year ago that there'd be no massive roundups or sweeps. And there have not been. We're enforcing the sanctions part of the law very deliberately and very effectively. Employer visits, random audits, first warning, we're going at it we think very well. And we're not hearing the charges of discrimination or of burden on the employers. It's working. The whole law is working well today. MacNEIL: Congressman, what about the other criticism made in that report, which is really laid to you people in Congress, that for the first time ever you've required people applying for permanent residence to take a test in English and put a time limit on that. I mean, what is going to happen to those people who can't meet that? Or choose for fear not to take that test? Rep. RICHARDSON: That was an effort to demonstrate that those applying should be required to be part of the American system, to take a little civics, to learn English, to learn about our country's history. I don't think that was too much to ask. I supported that. But the problem I see now is what about those, for instance, that are awaiting court decisions? What about those that probably because of paperwork will not make it by May 4? And I'm worried about a large illegal immigrant population after May 4, and then these employer sanctions where once again there still is potential discrimination. Anybody that doesn't look blond, or like Robert Redford, that looks Hispanic, or foreign, how can we be absolutely sure that there won't be discrimination? I would hope that the commissioner and the INS and the Justice Department enforce all the anti discrimination provisions that the Congress has imposed. And I hope that they use humanity and discretion and not card everybody that looks foreign. I'm concerned about some community raids after May 4 that might have some civil rights implications. I think the commissioner in the last year or so has shown a lot more sensitivity. A lot of his officers too. I look forward to working with him. But I must say many in the Hispanic community, in the immigrant community, are concerned. We're dealing with a massively difficult problem. The Congress is to blame a lot. We did the best we could nonetheless. The INS officers in the same vein. I'm just concerned that after May 8, when we're dealing with millions of people, many that are law abiding, that want to be part of the American dream, let's not just throw them out in a way that is not humane and not in the traditions of this country. MacNEIL: How do you reassure him, Commissioner? Mr. NELSON: Well, I do reassure him. Again, as I mentioned earlier, this has been an excellent bipartisan piece of legislation -- MacNEIL: But just on the point of community raids that he mentioned -- Mr. NELSON: Well, we don't have community raids to begin with. Remember, we have a problem with illegal immigration. We've had half a million coming in illegally. That's hurting our country. These jobs ought to be for Americans. Hispanic Americans. Black Americans, white Americans. That's the purpose. There's a tremendous ability to interrelate immigration reform and welfare reform. These jobs ought to be for Americans that are disadvantaged and legal residents. It's a fair law, it's a well balanced law. It's working well, and we're pleased to work with the Congress and give the assurances that the congressman asked for that it'll be done fairly. It has been, it will continue to be done fairly. MacNEIL: Commissioner Nelson, Congressman Richardson, thank you both for joining us tonight. Alternative Therapy LEHRER: Next tonight, the search for a way to treat AIDS. There's no cure for the killer disease, and thus far only one drug, AZT, is approved for treatment. This has caused many desperate AIDS patients to turn from traditional medicine to alternative therapies. It is the story now told by Spencer Michels of Public Station KQED, San Francisco.

SPENCER MICHELS, KQED, San Francisco: These people are waiting in line to buy an unproven drug that they hope will help them fight AIDS. This isn't a hospital and the person dispensing this material is not a doctor. He is a member of a nonprofit group in San Francisco called the Buyer's Club that is selling an unapproved AIDS therapy called egg lipids, which is a derivative of egg yolks. This product is just one of several alternative treatments now available on the AIDS black market. Nearly 5000 people in San Francisco alone have gotten AIDS, and health officials estimate that an additional 25,000 may be infected with the AIDS virus. The Buyer's Club has seen a steady increase in the demand for their product. MAN: We went from selling 30 a week to 70 in about two months.

MICHELS: People also flock to Buyers Club meetings to hear the latest information about alternative therapies and where to get them. MAN: Where do you get transfer (unintelligible)? MAN: Positive Action Clinic, 450 Sutter. Al Lavin's office.

MICHELS: Since most of the drugs aren't approved the the FDA, selling them could be illegal. That doesn't bother co director John Fox, who has AIDS himself. JOHN FOX, Buyer's Club Director: How do we fit in with the FDA regulations? Well, we may not even fit in with the FDA regulations. I mean the truth of the matter is what we're all about is we are into getting treatments now. And we are out to encourage people to get treatments now. And do whatever it takes to get treatments right now.

MICHELS: No one claims that such unproven alternatives provide a cure. But since it can take years for the FDA to approve any drug, many people with AIDS are frustrated, and even disgusted with this time consuming process. TOM O'CONNOR, AIDS patient: If we're talking about a disease where we're saying everyone's going to die, everyone's going to die, should we not allow these people to make a choice as to whether or not they want to try something if they think it's hopeful? And okay, if they die, well, they're supposed to be dead anyway!

MICHELS: Project Inform is another organization in San Francisco that is helping AIDS patients get information about alternative therapies. Workers keep track of all the potential AIDS drugs being tested in medical trials around the country. They then pass along medical findings to AIDS patients. They also provide information about how to find illegal AIDS therapies. MARTIN DELANEY, Project Inform Director: Well, in some instances, substances have been brought into the country in a way that is technically illegal. And I think the people that have done that have simply had to choose what is more important here, this law written on a piece of paper that says I can't do it, or my life, or my friend's life. And when you look at it in that kind of a contrast, then I think people find it fairly to choose human life.

MICHELS: Dr. Paul Volberding, head of the AIDS ward at San Francisco General Hospital, is worried that unreported use of alternative therapies by AIDS patients could ruin clinical trials of a potential AIDS remedy. Dr. PAUL VOLBERDING, San Francisco General Hospital: If the drug that we don't know about is causing side effects, we might confuse those with the side effects of the drug that's being tested. So it might really jeopardize our understanding of the drug.

MICHELS: Doctors here don't want to alienate AIDS patients by speaking out against alternative therapies. They understand that people who think they have only months to live may not care about long term AIDS research. Dr. VOLBERDING: Their sense of time is really quite different. We know so much more about this than we did even a year ago. And yet if you're the infected person looking at the information, you say it's not going fast enough for me.

MICHELS: Volberding warns that people who are asymptomatic -- in other words, haven't developed symptoms yet -- could be taken advantage of by sellers of unproven alternative therapies. He talked to producer Robert Holm. Dr. VOLBERDING: Most of what's going on with the alternative treatments are really, I think, honest attempts by people who share the sense of desperation. I fear that that might be changing now with the whole question of the asymptomatic people who are infected and who are afraid.

MICHELS: One doctor treating asymptomatic people with alternative therapies is Dr. Alan Levin, the director of a new AIDS outpatient clinic in San Francisco. He also treats people who have symptoms, such as Buyer's Club director John Fox. Unlike many doctors, Levin believes it is important to actively treat infected people before the AIDS virus has wiped out their immune systems and produced symptoms. Dr. ALAN LEVIN, Positive Action Clinic: We now know that at least 70% of these people are going to develop AIDS or ARC within five years. Our purpose is to prevent the destruction of the immune system, rather than to treat the opportunistic infections once the immune system is destroyed.

MICHELS: Some doctors consider Levin's therapy controversial, because many of the drugs he administers are not proven to be effective against AIDS and could do more harm than good. Dr. VOLBERDING: There is, I think, some danger in using therapies that we don't understand. Because they might have side effects, they might in fact accelerate the immune deficiency. They might make things worse.

MICHELS: All of the confusion surrounding alternative AIDS treatments has produced a flood of calls to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Recently volunteers here have been receiving a small but growing number of calls about alternative theories regarding the cause of AIDS. These theories, most resting on questionable evidence, suggest that something else, perhaps syphilis or some other virus, causes AIDS. Mr. DELANEY: There's been a growing tendency in the last year to try to find an alternate explanation for what's causing AIDS. And I think a lot of folks would love to find an easier answer. You know, that it's not this mysterious, terrible virus, but rather it's something simple.

MICHELS: More than 600 people crowded into a small church in San Francisco this January to hear the latest alternative theories. One of the speakers was biologist Peter Duesberg, who has charged that medical experts are wrong in thinking that AIDS is caused by the AIDS virus. PETER DUESBERG, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley: I'm convinced that this virus is not the cause of AIDS.

MICHELS: Duesberg, a professor of molecular biology at the University of California at Berkeley, is a well respected expert on viruses. Although he is not an AIDS researcher, Duesberg claims that something else must be causing AIDS, because the AIDS virus, also called HIV, is much less aggressive than normal viruses. In particular, he points out that it is just as difficult to find HIV in people who have symptoms as in those who don't. Dr. DUESBERG: If the virus were responsible for fatal disease, it should do something more, or harder, or different in those who are dying than in those who are not dying.

MICHELS: Despite Duesberg's impressive credentials as a leading expert on viruses, nearly all AIDS experts reject his theory. Because it flies in the face of hundreds of studies that have shown that HIV causes AIDS. Particularly strong evidence comes from medical studies that are tracking the spread of AIDS. Berkeley professor and epidemiologist Warren Winklestein is part of a team in San Francisco that has been monitoring 1000 gay and heterosexual men for more than four years. They have found that only people who were infected with HIV have gotten AIDS. Those who do not have HIV do not get AIDS. Dr. WINKLESTEIN, University of California, Berkeley: The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the HIV as the causal agent.

MICHELS: While few researchers support Duesberg's conclusion, some scientists say he is at the least asking legitimate, but very technical, questions, questions that have been raised by other researchers. But Duesberg is alone in concluding that HIV doesn't cause AIDS. And he has made the amazing claim that HIV isn't dangerous and that he wouldn't mind being injected with it. Those claims have angered public health officials, such as AIDS prevention expert, Don Francis. Dr. DONALD FRANCIS, Center for Disease Control: When you see some people actually entering those groups at risk and say HIV does not cause AIDS, don't worry about it, I would take it, it's perfectly safe -- then I think it's a public health responsibility to say, That's dangerous preaching and we want to stand up and say that that is not true.

MICHELS: Every day five new cases of AIDS are diagnosed in San Francisco alone. Since none of the therapies provides a cure, the search for something new and different will continue with or without the approval of the authorities. Hooked on Books MacNEIL: Finally tonight, we have a few words from our regular essayist Roger Rosenblatt. His subject is addiction to books.

ROGER ROSENBLATT: How many people have gotten all heated up at the sight of someone reading a book? A trillion. My low estimate. Who could help it? The picture's a natural come on, a seducer. He, she, holding that compendium of words, bent forward slightly as if in prayer, unconscious of intensity, unconscious of self. Man or woman lost in the presence of the mind's pleasure and instruction. Look at that! The creature's already in love with the book, so in a way you have to woo the object of your affections away from the object of its affections. But you want to keep the book around, too. A menage a trois, a scandal. It's a steamy place, a library. A person could break out in a sweat. The New York Library brings out this lascivious thought this month as it declares a library card campaign. The idea is to enable 500,000 school children to get hold of and to use a library card. A noble thought, but one must be careful. The library is promoting its value with reference to the most modern devices: videocassettes, compact discs, microcomputers, index services. All very snazzy and proper, to be sure. But what about that woman sitting over at that table, spotlit by a single lamp in the darkish hall, reading? Should children be exposed to such a sight? What are libraries for? The library is an odd sort of institution, at least in America it is. A sort of sacred, secret place where something very strange goes on. Probably illicit. Nothing is overt about a library. It is not a ballpark or a bank. It is all nuance. Yet it has power. The Music Man, all brass and cunning, falls hopelessly in love with Marian the Librarian. Her tone is different. And Holly Golightly of Breakfast at Tiffany's falls in love with a man in the New York Public Library for no other reason than that she reads a book of short stories he wrote. Recently, the Ghost Busters ghost was loosed in the library. No protection here. Who are you gonna call? In James Baldwin's Go Tell It On the Mountain, the young hero, John Grimes, is afraid that the two stone lions out front will keep him out. But in fact, the lions welcome him inside. Even lions act oddly in a library. So when the New York Public Library says give every kid a library card, I get a little scared. Can the kids take what a library has to offer? The sense of self that reading initiates. A sense derived from urging the mind outward before pushing it inward again? The sense of privacy a library fosters? The term public library is a contradiction really. So deeply private is everyone's experience there. The sense of silence. The sense of history is also there. Since whatever happens in a book, even in a book about the future, has to have happened already in the mind of the writer. Readers doing everything, doing nothing simultaneously in the present and in the past. It's weird, I tell ya. But the real reason a library should be approached with caution is that he or she is there. That person, like yourself, engaged in the essential operation of the species. To read is to know is to be. Bang! The biological process by which people produce what they are. Brilliance, kindness, cruelty, courage, shame. They do it all in the library, in the open, on the tables. My God! Should 500,000 school children be given access to a house like that? Shouldn't they be accompanied by an adult? Recap LEHRER: Again, the major stories of this Tuesday. Syria put its forces in Lebanon on full alert, as Israeli troops moved close to Syrian positions. Israeli officials said their troops were not looking for trouble with Syria, only to find and destroy Palestinian guerillas. More workers joined the strikes in Poland. Their Solidarity leader from 1980, Lech Walesa, told strikers to find themselves another leader, that he did not have the health and energy this time. And primary voters in Ohio and Indiana were expected to give another large boost to Michael Dukakis's drive to the Democratic presidential nomination. Good night, Robin. MacNEIL: Good night, Jim. That's the NewsHour tonight. We will be back tomorrow night. I'm Robert MacNeil. Good night.