IMMIGRATION

Lou Dobbs, chilling by the Mexican border

Lou Dobbs To Host Immigration Reality Show

EL PASO, Tex. (CAP) - When CNN's Lou Dobbs announced the abrupt departure from his long-running show, Lou Dobbs Tonight, many assumed that he would follow fellow right-winger Glenn Beck and make the quick leap to Fox. In a CAP News exclusive, Dobbs says that he will indeed be punching the Fox time clock, but it will be the entertainment wing, and not the news division, that will be signing his paychecks.

"I've felt for a long time that I've wanted to take a more active roll in this issue instead of just windbagging about it, and many of my colleagues and the CNN brass had been encouraging me to move on and do so," Dobbs told CAP News in the lobby of an El Paso hotel that has become the base for Dobbs' new show, Lou Dobbs Brown Alert!

"The chill of a cold Texas desert night, the smell of fear, the almost sexual stimulation of hands-on homeland defense... and they let me carry a Glock," Dobbs says, his voice breaking slightly as he shows off his sidearm.

Dobbs' show hopes to shine a bright light on some of the most pressing immigration issues facing this country, while at the same time providing entertainment to millions of Americans who have never seen an honest-to-goodness hardcore nationalistic border crackdown.

Each show starts with Dobbs' handpicked enforcers - the Dobbers - rounding up willing Mexicans from villages all along the US/Mexican border. After a brief training regiment, the Mexicans are turned loose with a map and the clothes on their backs to try and make it through the Dobbers to a special Freedom Flag located somewhere in the Texas desert. The first Mexican to make it to the flag wins a green card for him or herself.

If the rest of episodes are like the pilot, Lou Dobbs Brown Alert! may be in for a rocky run.

"We did have three deaths, and a brief, unfortunate, gun battle with the Texas National Guard that has been completely over-exaggerated, but we did keep 350 illegals from entering this country," Dobbs, who narrates the show and rides shotgun in the lead armored chase vehicle, says. "At the end of the day, you've got to break a few eggs to make an omelet, and I think you know what color eggs I'm talking about here, right?"

Lou Dobbs Brown Alert! is another in a growing line of shows that have collectively been tabbed advocacy reality TV. From The Gary Busey Bum Olympics (homelessness) and Don't Bogart This Show (medical marijuana) to the upcoming Victoria Jackson show D&C Clinic Warriors (abortion), advocacy realty TV shows are seeking to change what it means to passively absorb reality programming in this country.

Lou Dobbs Brown Alert! will air after The Great American Boob Job Quest! on Fox Sundays (check your local listings for time and channel).