.
July 29th, 2010
10:05 AM ET
Video: Immigrant laborer for a day
Gary Tuchman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent
|
|
Filed under: Gary Tuchman • Immigration |
About this Show:
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°
Subscribe to the podcast
Subscribe to the AC360 podcast on iTunes!
On Twitter
RT @CNN: Conservative attorney George Conway explains to CNN’@andersoncooperer why he believes House Republicans are not applying a neutral…
10:19 pm ET February 3, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tells CNN's @JohnBerman what she said to Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) on the House floor during the…
9:35 pm ET February 2, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: 22-year-old Princeton University student Edward Tian developed GPTZero app for detecting AI-generated text. He joins CNN’s @anders…
11:25 pm ET February 1, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: Andrew Kaczynski, senior editor and founding member of CNN’@KFILELE, breaks down the history of George Santos’ former aliases. Wat…
11:20 pm ET February 1, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: CNN's @andersoncooper reacts to an interview Rep. George Santos (R-NY) gave to OAN, in which he says that going forward, "everythi…
9:04 pm ET January 31, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: Watch CNN’s exclusive interview with former Wagner mercenary Andrei Medvedev, who tells CNN'@andersoncooperer about how the brutal…
9:57 pm ET January 30, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that interacts with users and can provide lengthy and thorough responses to questions and prompts,…
11:31 pm ET January 25, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: Former Trump White House official Alyssa Farah Griffin speaks with CNN's @andersoncooper about the discovery of nearly a dozen doc…
9:54 pm ET January 24, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: Brandon Tsay, the man who confronted and disarmed the suspect of the Monterey Park, California, mass shooting that killed 11 peopl…
9:36 pm ET January 23, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: In an interview with CNN's @andersoncooper , "Rust" line producer reacted to the charges to come against Alec Baldwin and an armor…
11:13 pm ET January 20, 2023
RETWEET
RT @CNN: High school students, who are also future voters in Rep. George Santos' district, speak with @GaryTuchmanCNN about Santos' fabrica…
11:51 pm ET January 19, 2023
RETWEET
They planned to ‘ride out the end of the world.’ They wound up lost at sea. Randi Kaye has the storycnn.com/2023/01/17/us/…pYzE
8:16 am ET January 18, 2023
RETWEET
Search the AC360 blog
I just watched Gary Tuchman's "Working The Fields" report. I've always wondered: if taxes are withheld from illegal's wages, how are they reported to the government without SSN's to link them to? Maybe you weren't referring to income taxes.
Gary mentioned in his report that these immigrants "pay taxes". I have heard that comment before from other sources and have always been curious about how "illegal immigrants" go about "paying taxes". Are they using stolen identities? Are their employers withholding but not submitting? What is the mechanism for them to pay taxes if they are "undocumented" workers? A real curiosity that I hope someone can explain. Perhaps Gary can do a follow-up report on that.
My intelligence was insulted by this report! Do you really think Americans don't appreciate hard work? Do you really think that your report, which was very slanted, was going to make me feel sorry for people who've invaded our country and have stolen jobs meant for our young and those needing a new start in life? It's no wonder that CNN is becoming so irrelevant in the news industry.
Gary mentions that day laborers are paid eight dollars an hour, what he doesn't mention is that in the laborers home country they would probably make less than eight dollars a day! They are here by their own free will chosing to work in the same summer heat that a lot of us do. Also he speaks to "Santo" who has worked in the fields for 32 years. Anyone that has worked in our country for 32 years and has not worked their way up out of the fields must be content, unmotivated or unqualified for anything else. They are welcome to work hard and make a better life for themselves here as all other immigrants have, and obviously need not worry about the federal government sending them home. Tell the whole story Gary!
I just watched this outrageous report. I am outraged by this incomplete report that Americans won't work the grape fields and illegals will. Is your point that Americans are too lazy to sweat and do hard labor? If it is you are absolutely wrong and you know it! Why does the report repeatedly say Americans won't work these grape fields but does not explain the obvious....Americans can't afford to work at these wages but illegals can because they live multiple families to a home in slumlord conditions, share rides and get free government health care and schooling to name a few differences-and don't try to tell me they pay all the taxes required. I know most illegals have learned to claim as many dependents as possible to exempt themselves from taxes..which numbers can never be substantiated by the IRS so it is a safe process for illegals.
So the next time you make such an insulting claim (which reminds me of how many times President Bush also publically made this stupid claim about the American people that voted him in) remember that Americans will work any hard job as long as the employer is not too cheap to pay a decent wage that can support a LEGAL American otherwise please don't insult us and even call this slave labor a job! How dare you betray your fellow Americans with such dishonorable propaganda!
Gary Tuchman,
This documentary is a very skewed view of illegal immigrants. Are we supposed to conclude from this documentary that the rest of us who came to this country legally should feel sorry for those who jumped over a fence and now work in the sun?
The day worker you were paired up with has 5 children. Did you ask them if they get welfare and medicaid benefits? Both my wife and I are health care professionals and we are waiting to have maybe 1 or 2 children that we can afford to have!
I have a suggestion: do another documentary in a different location...the labor and delivery floors of hospitals near the border. Much like where I trained for residency, you'll find illegal immigrants who are on their 3rd/4th/5th pregnancy, don't speak a lick of English, & expect the taxpayer to foot their bill.
I can concede that illegal immigrants aren't a true threat to jobs in the US but this "documentary" is hardly even-sided with regard to their "plight".
I am an American that does this kind of work for free all growing season long! My county is agriculture rich... monetary poor. I am part of a network of volunteers (95% white) that pick all left-over fruits and vegetables from the fields to provide to food banks, homeless shelters, nursing homes, and church groups to feed the needy in our county. My children also help. My kids would love to have this as a paid job but the farmers won't hire them. I don't really want them to have this job with illegals in the fields and orchards anyhow. We have been harassed numerous times just walking to friends and neighbors homes in the area. I think more Americans would do this work if not for the illegals. We have no problems with the legal immigrants in our area. They are our friends and neighbors. It is the transient self-entitled illegals that are causing problems.
Gary, why don't you come down to where I work and see all the jobs that Americans won't do? Electricians, painters, flooring....nice pro-illegal slant on your story dude.
Construction & restaurants were a place a young person could go and work fresh out of high school...no wonder they have no work ethic, this is where they used to learn the importance of :getting to work on time, how to listen, take direction, getting along with your co-workers.
And of course the wages are lowered because there are so many workers and a shortage of jobs.
Hi Anderson, Did you ask those day laborers what their pay is??? I can almost bet you it is way below minimum wage. Maybe that's why Americans won't do the job. The farmers are exploiting the immigrants. Americans might do the job if they paid legal wages!! A lot of companies that hire the illegals pay them under the table to avoid taxes!!! That hurts honest working Americans.