Thread: Tom Brokaw sympathy show

I posted some of the blog comments. You can comment as well. They are overwhelmingly against illegal immigration. So much for drumming up sympathy Tom!


http://dailynightly.msnbc.com/2006/12/t ... below-fold -Truths about the immigration debatePosted by Tom Brokaw, Correspondent (10:11 am ET, 12/26/06)

Editor's note: Tonight on NBC, Tom Brokaw travels to an unlikely place where the debate over illegal immigration is raging — the Colorado Rockies. NBC News spent eight months reporting on the myths and truths about illegal immigration in this pristine stretch between Aspen and Vail, a historically white population that has seen an influx of thousands of Hispanics, mostly from Mexico. The hour-long documentary "Tom Brokaw Reports: In the Shadow of the American Dream," airs at 8 p.m. ET. Check your local listings in other time zones. We asked Tom to blog about the documentary and he provided us this list of truths about the immigration debate.

In many parts of the country immigrants are doing the work Americans no longer want to do, especially the hard work of manual labor at construction sites.

In our reporting we discovered that most of them are paid a fair wage — $14.00 an hour for an entry level construction job, and that they are paying state and federal taxes through withholding. (Sure, some employers pay cash off the books, but most we encountered are trying to play by the rules).

While local residents are conflicted about the spreading Hispanic culture -- language and music -- they agree the immigrants are very hard workers and in general have good family values.

But it is also clear the immigrants are straining the public and health systems without paying their fair share.

They live in overcrowded, often sub-standard housing in clear violation of local laws.

They're brazen about acquiring forged documents -- from Social Security cards to driver's licenses — to get work.

And, most important, this complicated problem won't be solved until Mexico becomes a reliable partner in improving its own economy and enforcing the rules at its border.

We can build a high fence, send illegals back, crack down on employers, and it still won't end because it is about survival and a piece of the American dream, a powerful lure for immigrants from all over the world for 200 years.

It is a growing problem and it requires urgent action in Congress, because in the meantime all the pressure is on local law enforcement, school and health administrators, and employers.

A sovereign nation must have control of its borders and a great nation must have a systematic, legal way of filling its labor needs.

The few, the proud...


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COMMENTS
14 dollars an hour? I dont think so, more like 5. Taxation without representation for sure. The majority of illegals are afraid to use medical or public welfare facilities The government and the people are getting cheap labor and the illegals are getting hope, a good trade. If we went after the cause of the illegal immigration it might be helpful. Finally legitimate governments in most Central American countries. In spite of US interference are helping to keep people in there own countries. Costa Rica, Panama, ect. have little problems with an absconding labor force. My forefathers ran into the same problems. Irish need not apply ect. 30 yrs on the Fire dept. and now i see blacks and latinos greeted with the same hate predjudice and suspicions that the irish faced yrs ago. When they were hired in an all Yankee Fire department. The children of the latinos that are arriving today will be the doctors lawyers,teachers and politicians of tommorrow and all the efforts of the bigots, demagogues and xenophobes will avail them not. Fences are made to be climbed. When they marry yr children and yr grandchildren speak, both english and spanish. You will be proud and We will be a better and stonger nation for it. Retired Border Patrol, Boston Fire Dept, and Peace Corp

JIm Barrett, Port Charlotte Fl (Sent Dec 26, 2006 6:48:39 PM)

FDR's New Deal created what amounts to an American Union. The American border was a picket line. Those who cross it illegally for work are scabs and those who aid and abet them are Union busters, plain and simple.

If you rich guys really want to bust the American Union -- if you really want to break the New Deal, you had best be prepared for the consequences of bing deal breakers.

James Bowery, Portland, OR (Sent Dec 26, 2006 6:20:31 PM)

Who's hiring these people....they sure as heck aren't hiring themselves. It is so easy to blame others for all your problems. Why not go after the REAL criminals...those that are letting this happen. With today's technology in the richest country in the world why is it not possible for an american business to know at least within a few days of hiring someone 1. if that person is here illegally and 2. if that person is who they say they are...could it be that business and our government don't really care. Wake up and smell the mexican coffee! Once this big to do is over we'll find something or someone else to pin the tail on the pinata.

trish, baltimore (Sent Dec 26, 2006 6:03:09 PM)

The Truth about "Immigration'?
I bet anyone in oposition well be made to look a racist.
Who whatches NBC anyway? Not my family.

Karen, Palos, IL. (Sent Dec 26, 2006 5:40:02 PM)

Tom:

There is no such thing as a job Americans won't do. But there are wages Americans won't accept. Henry Ford taught us over 100 years ago that the key to a vibrant economy is a well-paid middle class. Nobody except a Robber Baron would vote for a politician who promised to lower workers' wages. Incomes for the bottom 4 out of 5 quintiles of earnings have stagnated for the past decade. If we cut off the supply of cheap imported labor, middle class American would earn more and would be able to buy more and save more, thus creating a virtuous cycle that would improve the country's standard of living and reduce the growing disparity between the rich and the poor.

Paul Mendez, Silver Spring MD (Sent Dec 26, 2006 5:20:59 PM)

Immigration is not the problem...people here illegally are.

Jack Fisher, Sand Springs, Ok. (Sent Dec 26, 2006 5:14:50 PM)

You claim it is agreed illegal aliens in "general have good family values". It may be true this is what people think, but it isn't true that illegal aliens actually do, see Heather Mac Donald's "Hispanic Family Values?" in the autumn 2006 edition of City Journal.

You assert "We can build a high fence, send illegals back, crack down on employers, and it still won't end." While true in the sense of ending completely, it's reasonable to expect reducing the benefits of illegal immigration while raising the costs of doing so would result in many, many illegal aliens choosing to remain at home.

Glen M., Seattle, WA (Sent Dec 26, 2006 4:51:17 PM)

No sympathy here....I am pretty Poed at Tom......Does he really think we are that ignorant or is it the people backing this type of propaganda that thinks we are all idiots?

I hope Mr. Brokaw reads his blog comments. This one hit hard in my heart. They are stealing our jobs Mr. Brokaw!!




I am the father of a five boys. I am a fifty-nine year old Vietnam veteran. My father is an eighty-five year old veteran of the Pacific war. We are both diagnosed with PTSD. You could say that we sacrificed a significant part of our lives for this nation.

I am a single father and have a twenty year old son. He graduated from high school, but has had a hard time finding appropriate employment. He did have a good job with the forest service this summer and his supervisor related to me that he was a good worker.

About a year ago, we had an immigration scare in central Oregon. Immediately, people who were not legal stopped coming to work. During this time my son got a job doing construction clean up. He was not making fourteen dollars an hour. He did have a job and he was proud of going to work each day and performing his work duties. He was also very happy with getting a paycheck.

After a few weeks, the immigration scare calmed down. One day my son went to work and his boss had hired a man to work with him. This man was Mexican and spoke no english. This man was obviously in our country outside of the law. After a few days of training his new assistant my son’s boss told him he was not needed any more and fired him.

On the day after Christmas 2006 Tom Brokaw said, “In many parts of the country immigrants are doing the work Americans no longer want to do, especially the hard work of manual labor at construction sites.”

Let me assure you, Mr. Brokaw that my son wanted that job. Let me assure you that he was crushed to loose it to someone who obviously had no legal status in this country that I and my father defended. Let me assure you that I witnessed the significant negative psychological impact this episode had on my son concerning his ability to go out and work.

I have tried to teach my children the importance of playing by the rules. Let me assure you Mr. Brokaw, that these people are wetbacks who are aware that they are not here legally. Their very first act upon entering the United States is to intentionally violate American law and sovereignty. How can anyone thinking clearly support this kind of element being introduced into our homeland to unfairly compete with our own children?

Apparently, Mr. Brokaw, your choice is to spread the diatribe that “Americans don’t want to work”. Americans are not afraid of work. They want to be fairly compensated and treated with dignity. The illegal residents you support with your view are here out of desperation and would eat dung for two bucks an hour. That is obviously not a level playing field. This will lead to a generation of Americans losing hope. Your desire, by this statement, is to propagate the myth that “American’s don’t want to work”.

My father’s great generation has a saying, “You can go to Hell.” Well Mr. Brokaw, I am not going to tell you what to do. What I am going to do is not allow you into my home. Let your advertisers know that as far as I am concerned, they should put their investment into a different network.

Jack USA (Sent Dec 26, 2006 3:27:09 PM)

The Greatest Generation would've had no trouble
throwing these illegal alien invaders out on their
ass & booing down the Gould Construction company
owners in the process.

Doesn't the great Tom Brokaw know when FDR cut
off trade with Japan he was hurting our economy &
sentencing 400,000 Americans to die? Was all that
so the Gould family could make a dollar building
crap in the mountains of cenral Colorado?

Pathetic. I could only stand to watch 15 minutes of it. I wonder if Mr. Brokaw is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. I never heard the word "Anglo" used as often except out of the mouth of a Reconquista.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

http://www.cfr.org/bios/6245/tom_brokaw.html

I just knew it.

I am watching it right now from Cal and
I cant believe it!!!


You cant find an american to do it because
you are taking advantage of those people
by paying such low wages.

This show is so biased that is frightening!

The OBL people get that for free on prime time...

we are screwed...I am tuned

Never even peaked at the show. Knew it would be depicted the way everyone is describing.
What major news announcer is not a member of the CFR?
I've heard enough stories about American workers being replaced by illegals to last me a lifetime. If the media would tell the people the truth about what is going on instead of spinning it there would be big trouble. Guess that's the plan. Fool the public, mold their minds into what they want so they can control them. I say 'them' cause I don't listen to the news on tv except for Lou Dobbs, trust him. Get my news from the internet, talk radio and Lou.

They are railroading this amnesty on us, it is all about that!

I think the final insult was when Brokaw ended the show stating that the massive illegal alien migration was all but "irreversible". What propaganda.