>> pelley: tonight, can a state force out illegal immigrants? the supreme court hears the question and tips its hand. jan crawford is at the court, brian rooney looks at both sides of the controversy in arizona. >> sometimes i'm afraid, like, when i see my husband leave in the morning that he might never come back. >> pelley: the day after a mad cow discovery, the government takes action, about the wyatt andrews asks how much do we know about the health of cattle? danger in the air-- another passenger plane collides with birds. we'll talk to captain chesley sullenberger. and with no money and no experience, an american woman creates a charity to heal the children who suffered in war.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. arizona says the federal government failed to stop illegal immigration so the state had to do it. that was the heart of the issue before the supreme court today. arizona passed an aggressive law in 2010 designed to make life so difficult for illegal immigrants, that they would choose to leave, and even with major provisioning of the law put on hold by lower courts, there is evidence that it's working. but the obama administration told the court today arizona should not be allowed to encroach on the authority of the federal government. you could tell what the justices were thinking by the questions they asked. chief legal correspondent jan crawford was there to hear them today. jan. >> reporter: well, scott, it's always dangerous to predict how the court's going to decide a case after you've listened to an argument, but in that court today, this case didn't seem to divide the justices along

ideological lines, liberal justices and conservative justices had tough questions for the obama administration and they seemed sympathetic to arizona. justice anthony kennedy, the key swing vote, talked of a federal government without the money or resources to enforce our immigration laws and states struggling with social disruption, economic disruption from illegal immigrants. he asked why couldn't those states enact laws to correct this problem. donald verrilli, representing the obama administration, argue the state have no say. the constitution vests exclusive authority over immigration with the national government. the administration sued arizona to block the law and is also targeting similar laws in alabama, georgia, indiana, south carolina, and utah. arizona says its law doesn't conflict with the federal effort, and today the justices appeared skeptical of the administration's broad attack. they seemed ready to uphold the

law's most controversial provision that requires police to check the immigration status of people they arrest or stop for a violation. critics say that could lead to racial profiling. but justice sonia sotomayor pointed out that those inquiries aren't unusual in arrests. often there's an immigration check that most states do without this law. later, when verrilli persisted, soto mayor interrupted. >> you can see it's not selling very well. why don't you try to come up with something else? but the justices appeared troubled by another provision in the law that makes it a crime for illegal immigrants to work or try to get a job in arizona. chief justice john roberts suggested that provision could go beyond federal immigration law which imposes serious penalties on employers, rather than employees. now, this is the second major case with huge political implications. remember, scott, the justices right now are weighing president obama's health care reform law, a decision in both of these

cases is expected by the end of june, and that, of course, is right in the middle of the president's election. >> pelley: momentous decision coming in june. jan, thanks very much. we wanted to know the cost of illegal immigration in arizona, so we called the office of governor jan brewer who signed the law. they told us that illegal immigrants cost the state an additional $1.2 billion for education, $193 until for health care, and $181 million in criminal justice costs. that as up to an additional $1.6 billion. but there is revenue. illegal immigrants pay $670 million in taxes in the state. so all told, arizona taxpayers are on the hook for about $930 million because of illegal immigration each year. as we mentioned, most of the arizona law is on hold while the supreme court makes its decision, but even so, the law is already changing lives. and we asked brian rooney to

show us how. >> reporter: you've had friends deported? >> i have friends deported. >> reporter: leticia ramirez and her husband are both illegal immigrants from mexico. he works and didn't want to be identified. she stays home. >> sometimes i'm afraid, like, when i see my husband leave in the morning that he might never come back. when i take my kids to school, that i might get stopped, even walking. >> reporter: she came to arizona with her family at age eight. she's lived here 19 years. she worries that deportation would separate them from their three children, all born here. they were u.s. citizens. >> for myself, they're going to be taken care of by a friend if something happens. >> reporter: so you've already made arrangements. >> yeah. >> reporter: to have your children taken care of. >> yeah. >> reporter: people we spoke to say stores have closed and there's less traffic in hispanic neighborhoods. state representative steve montenegro, voted for the law called sb-1070.

>> i think 1070 pretty mump takes the handcuffs off the police officers so they can do the job they have been already prescribed by the federal government to do. >> reporter: the law passed by a comfortable margin in both houses of the republican-controlled legislature. >> how is it a good bill? >> here in arizona we have a lot of problems when it comes to open boards, when it comes to not enforcing federal immigration laws which in turn cause a lot of chaos in our streets. you could see that 1070 has had an impact in arizona just by people that are here illegally leaving the state. >> reporter: and crime is down. >> crime is down. >> reporter: but by how much and why is a matter of debate. crime in arizona was trending to a 30-year low before the law was signed. thousands of illegal immigrants have left the state, according to at least two population studies, but there's no reliable count and it's unknown whether the big exit was caused by the immigration law or the bad economy. it's a little bit on your mind

that somebody might stop and try to figure out whether you're a u.s. citizen? >> well, i'm more prepared now. >> reporter: american citizens like jim say they have also felt the law's impact. he was born in america to chinese and hispanic parents and says he's been pulled over twice and asked for, in the word of the police, his papers. you're a u.s. citizen, born and raised here in arizona, but you carry your passport. >> yes, i do. i always have it and i have it here with me right now. >> reporter: but you feel it's necessary? >> it's the primo identification, and it will stop the inquisition, hopefully. >> pelley: brian roon sejoining us now in phoenix at the capital where there's going to be a demonstration later this evening. brian. >> wondered, since this law took effect in 2010, how many deportations have there been from arizona? >> reporter: well, it was about 56,000 last year, scott, and 18,000 so far this year, which at that rate, is running at about 20% ahead of the previous year. and keep in mind, tens of thousands of people have left

voluntarily, scott. >> pelley: brian, thanks very much. a former governor of arizona, janet napolitano, is now the secretary of homeland security, and she oversees the secret service. so it's been a tough couple of weeks. today, the senate judiciary committee asked her about that prostitution scandal involving 24 members of the military and the secret service. >> i think every mother of a teenager knows a common defense is, well, everybody else was doing it, so i get to do it. first, not everybody else was doing. and second, this behavior is not part of the secret service way of doing business. >> pelley: secretary napolitano said she's reviewing secret service training and standards. she also said that investigators have reviewed two and a half years of records and uncovered no other reports of agents soliciting prostitutes. u.s. capitol police tonight are investigating what they believe is a credible threat against

senator marco rubio. the republican from florida has been mentioned as a possible running mate for mitt romney. no word on the nature of the threat, but police are taking precautions. one day after we learned that a dairy cow in california had mad cow disease, the u.s. department of agriculture is moving to see if it is an isolated case. we asked wyatt andrews to look into what's being done and find out how much we know about the health of cattle. >> reporter: investigators are combing through dairy farm records in tulare county, california, trying to identify where the sick cow was born and if she ever gave birth. despite assurances the cow had atypical or naturally occurring mad cow disease, the u.s.d.a. still operates as if the cow was contagious. under international guidelines, every cow born in the same herd and every calf born to the sick cow must be found and destroyed.

dr. john clifford is the chief veterinarian at u.s.d.a. >> until more scientific evidence and knowledge about how atypical animals contract the disease, whether it's through jeanetteibs or some other way, we will continue to treat them the same as any classical b.s.e. case. >> reporter: but the discovery of one mad cow after six years of no findings has renewed debate on whether the u.s. test enough for this disease. last year, the u.s.d.a. tested 40,000 cows when more than 34 million cattle were slaughtered, a test rate barely exceeding . .1%. they argue the government isn't finding more cases because they're not looking. >> if they tested more animals and tested more high-risk animals, that they would find additional cases because you usually just don't find one. >> reporter: the u.s.d.a.

disagrees, arguing the mad cow crisis of 10 years ago was solved by banning cow brain tissue from being used in cattle feed. one clear weakness in the system is inconsistent record keeping on dairy farms. the last time u.s.d.a. investigators searched for where an infected mad cow was born, scott, they found all the calves but never found the cow's place of birth. >> pelley: wyatt, thank you very much. the federal reserve said today the u.s. economy is growing moderately, and may even pick up some steam. the fed now says growth this year could be 2.9%, as we said, moderate, and not a big help to unemployment. in britain, rupert murdoch is grilled about using his newspapers to win political favors. airport baggage screeners are arrested in a drug smuggling case. and what's behind the growing number of bird strikes when the cbs evening news continues.

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canada geese. the birds hit the windshield, block the pilot's view. >> pelley: the plane return to the airport. none of the 58 people on board was hurt. last thursday, a flock of birds damaged the engine of a los angeles-bound delta flight after takeoff from new york's kennedy airport, and that same day, vice president biden's plane hit birds during a landing in california. over the past two decades, bird strikestrikes have increased frm nearly 1800 a year to more than 9600. we have our own resident expert on bird strikes. in 2009, captain chesley sullenberger landed his us airways flight on the hudson river after birds knocked out both of his engines.

now he's our aviation and safety expert. sully, why have the number of bird strikes increased so criminally? >> scott, the bird populations have increased, and we're flying more flights now than we ever have before. >> pelley: what can airports do about this? fiective land use planning around local airports is the best to prevent birds from roosting near the airport. it's important that we not build anywhere near an airport anything like likely to attract birds, especially trash facilities. >> pelley: you don't want to build a garbage dump next to an airport for example. >> exactly. in fact, in new york city right now there are plans to do just that and it's a terrible idea to build something there that's likely to attract birds. >> pelley: seagull magnets you night call them. i wonder, how much does pilot training have to do with bringing the plane back successfully. >> you know, as much as training is important, it's real-world operational experience that's necessary to handle kind of ambiguous situation like a bird strike. what's really important is during the f.a.a. current rule

making on the minimum amount of pilot experience that pilots have to have, we're raising it from the unbelievably low level of current 250 hours to be an airline pilot to at least 1500 hours, but there's great industry pressure to water it down. >> pelley: the f.a.a. wants to increase the number of flight hours to qualify to be an airline pilot from 250 hours to 1500 hours. i wonder, how many hours did you and your flight officer have when you landed that airplane in the hudson? >> together we had over 75 years of flying experience, and fourth,000 hours in the air, and the work lode and time pressure on the flight was so extreme, i didn't have time to tell the first officer what to do. had he had only 400, 500 hours of flying time we could not have had as good an outcome. >> pelley: 40,000 flight hours together. sully, thank you very much. federal agents say they broke up a drug smuggling ring today at los angeles international airport. two t.s.a. baggage screeners

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rupert murdoch claimed he does not have as much power as many believe, and he denied that he has ever cut deals with british politicians. mark phillips was there. >> i swear by almighty god that the evidence i shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. >> reporter: rupert murdoch, swearing to tell the truth, a prospect that would strike fear into the heart of politicians. they've been trying to curry favor with the 81-year-old media mogul for decades. the endorsement of his newspapers has been considered essential by prime ministers from margaret thatcher through tony blair to david cameron. his best-selling paper "the sun" once claimedded to have won an election single handed, but murdoch was grilled about whether his business received favors in return. >> i want to put it to bed once and for all, that that is a complete myth. >> so what's the myth, mr. murdoch? >> that i used the influence of

"the sun" or the supposed political power to get favorable treatment. >> reporter: this inquiry was ordered when the investigation into britain's illegal phone hacking scandal uncovered an often-cozy relationship between politicians and the press, including alleged payments to public officials. and the murdoch influence extends around the world, including the united states. >> is it fair to say that you generally back the winning side? >> no. the last election in america both the "wall street journal" and "new york post" certainly opposed the almost-certain victory of president obama. >> reporter: but rupert murdoch proved he's as much a force to be reckoned with now as he was when he was courted by tony blair. >> you said this, apparently, flirtation never consummated tony, i suspect we will end up making love like pork pines

very, very carefully." did you say that? ( laughter ) >> i might have. >> reporter: and the quills are still sharp. the murdochs used to be king makers. now to the politicians who once courted them, they're almost toxic. >> pelley: mark, thank you very much. if you ever doubted that one person can make a world of difference, you're about to meet one such person next. i used to love hearing that phrase... but not since i learned i have... postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture. i want to keep acting but a broken bone could change that. so my doctor and i chose prolia® to reduce my risk of fractures. prolia® is proven to help make bones stronger. proven to help increase bone density. i take prolia®. it's different. it's two shots a year. [announcer:] if you take prolia® (denosumab) you should not take xgeva®. prolia® can cause serious side effects,

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>> pelley: finally tonight, elissa montanti is a woman in new york who worried about children in war. she had no money, no experience, but she started a charity to bring these children to the united states for treatment. we first met her at "60 minutes" a couple of years ago, and recently we decided to catch up to find out what happened to an iraqi boy that she was caring for, a boy named wa'ad. that's wa'ad, two years ago, arriving in america with his mother, waffa. elissa montanti brought them here after an american soldier told her wa'ad's story. >> he was walking with his friends, and they were kicking a bottle. i think the first child kicked the bottle, then maybe the second, and then he kicked it, and it exploded. >> pelley: it was a bomb. >> it was a bomb. >> pelley: wa'ad lost an ihis

right arm, and left leg. >> he really gets around well. >> pelley: at the shriner's hospital in philadelphia, wa'ad was fitted with new limbs. he got a prosthetic eye, and in new york, dr. kaveh alizadeh did reconstructive surgery. >> take a like at mommy. >> wa'ad's mother began to recognize the face that she hadn't seen in two years. after our "60 minutes" report, donations flooded in to montanti's shoe string charity. she's bringing in many more children disfigured by war, and following up as the kids get older. >> good? >> pelley: recently, wa'ad came back to america, two years after he first met him. >> wa'ad has outgrown his leg and his arm, and so he's back in the shriner's hospital, and he is all excited about getting his new leg. >> pelley: bring us up to date

on global medical relief since we talked to you last. >> we have gotten an overwhelming amount of love and support, letters, e-mails, donations, celebrities have both contributed into buying us a new home, so the children now have a house, a home away from home. >> pelley: this new house will hold five children while they're being treated. as for wa'ad, he'll soon be going back home to iraq. >> oh, i love you. >> pelley: tell me about miselissa and what she's meant to you. he said, "i love her. >> pelley: montanti has brought more than 150 wounded children to america for treatment, all of them cared for by doctors, nurses, and hospitals volunteering their time. that's the cbs evening news for tonight. for all of us at cbs news, all around the world, good night.

this is 9 news now. jc hayward, ho, ho. got to go. >> hundreds on the street outside the u.s. supreme court today protesting as the justices inside tackle one of the most controversial immigration laws in the country, arizona's s.b. 1070 requiring officers to check the immigration of anyone's status thought to be in the country illegally. the justice department sued to block the law and now the nation's highest court must decide if arizona is overstepping its authority. danielle nottingham has the details of what went on inside the supreme court. >> reporter: outside the supreme court demonstrators on both sides had their