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This week on Uprising:

* Immigration Legislation and Raids
* 1 Year Anniversary of CAFTA Reveals Unequal Benefits
* Exclusive Interview on the follow up to “Confessions to an Economic Hit Man”
* Empire Notes on Seymour Hersh’s War Exposé
* Black Agenda Report on the Black Stake in Impeachment and Iraq Withdrawal
* Mumia Abu Jamal on Another Side of Black History

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Immigration Raids and Legislation

GUEST: Roberto Rodriguez, columnist with the Column of the Americas, doctoral student at University of Wisconsin

President Bush plans to work with Congress on an overhaul of immigration laws, according to two Cabinet officials earlier this week. Carlos Gutierrez, the Commerce Secretary, told the Senate Judiciary committee that the Bush administration’s priority is to secure the nation’s borders and convince the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants to “come out of the shadows.” To convince them to do so, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, conducted sweeping raids of immigrants across the country, in one of the largest operations of its kind in history. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff has been waging his own campaign on immigration reform, meeting with many members of Congress, taking them on tours of the US-Mexico border, and testifying at an immigration hearing. The hearing follows a renewed behind-the-scenes push by the White House to get a comprehensive overhaul passed before 2008 presidential and congressional campaigning swings into high gear.

Empire Notes on Seymour Hersh’s War Exposé

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is on Seymour Hersh’s War Exposé.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

1 Year After CAFTA

GUEST: Krista Hansen, Program Director of Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador

It’s been one year since the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, took effect. U.S. exports to four Central American countries grew more than 18 percent last year as a result. Imports were unchanged as the textile trade lagged. According to President Bush, “A lot of people are benefiting” from CAFTA. CAFTA removes taxes on 80 percent of the $15 billion in annual U.S. exports to the region and makes permanent the duty-free access to the U.S. that most products from Central America already have. All of the Central American nations except Costa Rica have ratified the agreement. Tens of thousands of Costa Rican students and teachers marched against ratifying CAFTA on Monday, while the deal remains bogged down in Congress. A nationwide strike is planned.

For more information, visit www.cispes.org, and www.stopcafta.org.

Black Agenda Report on the Black Stake in Impeachment and Iraq Withdrawal

GUEST: Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is on the Black Stake in Impeachment and Iraq Withdrawal. Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

A Game As Old As Empire

A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption

GUESTS: Antonia Juhasz, visiting scholar at Institute for Policy Studies, and contributer to “A Game as Old as Empire,” Steven Hiatt, editor of “A Game as Old as Empire”

In 2004, a man named John Perkins wrote a book called “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.” In it, he detailed how “EHMs” like him were tasked with convincing poor countries around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money from the loans ended up at Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and construction companies. John Perkins spent 20 years writing the book, and accepted a few large bribes not to write. Eventually, inspired by the tragedy of 9/11, he published the account of his life. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man became an instant hit, reaching to the tops of best sellers lists, including the New York Times. But major media would not touch the book. Many national TV shows canceled interviews at the last minute. KPFK and Pacifica had no such problems and in 2004 we covered the book with a full length interview. Now, several years later, we present the first follow up book to Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, containing the experiences of several Economic Hit Men, emboldened by Perkins’ courage. The new book is called “A Game as Old as Empire,” and it hits book stores on April 9th. Today, in an exclusive first interview, we’ll discuss this much-anticipated follow up book to Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.

Mumia Abu Jamal on Another Side of Black History

GUEST: Mumia Abu Jamal, political prisoner and award winning journalist

Mumia Abu Jamal is an award winning journalist and political prisoner. In the immediate aftermath of Black History month, today’s commentary is called Another Side of Black History.

Listen to Mumia’s audio commentaries at www.prisonradio.org.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.” — David C. McCullough