we have just learned that hurricane alex is gaining strength with winds up now to 90 miles an hour. it could slam into southern texas and northeast mexico just in a matter of hours. it is a category one storm right now. just shy of being upgraded to a category two. alex is unleashing heavy rains and winds along much of the gulf coast. now, that is creating delays in the oil cleanup operation in the hard hit region that it simply cannot afford. oil skimming ships have been forced back to shore by 12-foot waves now. and cleanup personnel were kept off louisiana beaches this morning because of those rough waters. officials are bracing for more oil to wash ashore depending on how powerful this storm gets. weenchts fully expect if there there is a storm surge we could see oil moving further inland or into marshes where we hadn t experienced that before. we have skimming task forces standing by to be deployed as soon as the weather abeats and we ll be out there hitting hard. we l
challenges in iraq. wolf is off today. i m suzanne malveaux and you re in the situation room. the backlash against arizona s tough immigration law has been perk lating for two months now and now president obama is responding with more power. the president is going to deliver an important speech on immigration reform on thursday and the administration s formal challenge may be filed in a number of days. i want to bring in dan lothian. you and i have been watching these developments over the last 48 hours. the president has been hosting immigration advocates at the white house. what do we expect in the days to come? the president will be reemphasizing his approach for comprehensive reform and the speech will be focused to members of congress. aides saying that they need everyone s support and that republicans need to come on board in order to move forward. what you re seeing is the president reaching out to lawmakers and community leaders. reporter: a supreme court nomi