The 21st century immigrant story

Trino’s extended family and friends enjoyed a day of soccer on Easter, followed by a traditional Mexican cook-out.

But Vanessa, the 6-year-old who has lived here for 3 years and can’t really remember Mexico, told us she prefers pizza.

Trying to preserve their Mexican culture, but also trying to assimilate as Americans, several of the men living in the Carbondale house with Trino and his brothers take English classes at the local middle school.

Two months after he was hired by Gould, Trino, an illegal immigrant, was promoted to bulldozer operator. It was because he had done so well at Gould, that his younger brother Juan Carlos applied for a job there.

In late April, Juan Carlos showed Brett Gould what appeared to be a real Social Security card and he was hired to work at the Vail hotel site under supervisor Sammy Sorenson.

Tom Brokaw: What would happen if they sent all the Mexican laborers back to Mexico?

Sammy Sorenson, work site supervisor: Well, we probably wouldn’t have a work force.

Brokaw: If you had a real hungry Mexican immigrant coming to work for you. You’d want him first?

Sorenson: Absolutely, I’d want anybody hungry.

Sorenson was born and raised in this valley. It bothers him that the American workers are the ones that let him down, while the Hispanics are mostly reliable and hard-working.

Brokaw: You started as a ditch digger effectively at Gould construction, right?

Sorenson: Yeah, Mark—

Brokaw: Got on the end of what they call an idiot stick, right?

Sorenson: Yeah.

Brokaw: And worked you’re way up?

Sorenson: Yeah.

Brokaw: Young people like you in this valley inclined to do that anymore?

Sorenson: I don’t know any—I don’t know that many, no.

Brokaw: They don’t wanna do it?

Sorenson: It doesn’t seem so.

Brokaw: Why not?

Sorenson: I’m not real sure.  It’s a little puzzling to me actually.

Juan Carlos was hungry for a job, but he needed a driver’s license to get to work. If he was stopped by police and had no driver’s license, he could be arrested and perhaps deported.

Right around the corner from Gould Construction, the fake document market is thriving. It wasn’t hard for Juan Carlos to find out where to buy a fake driver’s license.

Through the grapevine, he heard of a local woman who was selling illegal Mexican licenses. In May, she took a Polaroid picture of him outside her trailer. A week later she delivered a Mexican driver’s license for a fee of $150.

In Colorado, it’s impossible for Juan Carlos to get a state license because he’s an illegal immigrant, but he can drive with a foreign license until he establishes a residence.

Brokaw: Do you have a driver’s license?

Juan Carlos:  Mexican.

Brokaw: Is it a real driver’s license?  Authentico?

Juan Carlos:  no.  (laugh) Has been stopped by police twice for speeding, and showed the fake license both times. Police let him go with a warning.

Brokaw:  When your deputies go out on patrol, are they actively looking for illegals? Or do they pick them up when they have a traffic stop of some kind or another violation?

Sheriff Lou Valleria, Garfield County, Colorado: I would say we don’t actively look for that.

Sherriff Lou Vallerio of Garfield County, Colorado.

Brokaw: Some people say just send them all back.

Valleria: We have an estimated 6000 illegal aliens just in Garfield county. I have a jail that holds 212 people. Where would I put them?

So it’s not a practical solution because the infrastructure is not there.

Brokaw: What if you suspect someone is an illegal?

Valleria: Any police officer that arrests somebody is required to notify ICE, Immigration Customs Enforcement, to let them know that they have somebody that they believe is illegal.

Brokaw: That adds to your paperwork, it adds to the kind of bureaucracy.

Valleria: Well, it certainly will. I mean it will certainly slow them own if an officer is to pick up the phone, call somebody at ICE but at this point if somebody is legal or illegal, for example,  on a traffic stop, the same would hold true.  They’d get a ticket and be on their way.

It’s the double standard when it comes to illegal immigrants and the law that angers many Americans.

Ian Hunkins: My biggest problem with it is when people show up here and they don’t follow the rules. I have just as much of a problem with Americans that don’t follow rules that I myself have to follow.  I don’t necessarily agree with rules that I have to follow all the time.  But they’re rules that are made by our government and you know until they change it’s something that I have to deal with.

Ian Hunkins does the same kind of manual labor that Juan Carlos and his brother Trino do, but Ian says he has to obey the law.

Hunkins: From places that I’ve lived I mean I have lived in condo complexes where I have seen people that—it’s a two bedroom.  And you can only have probably four people at the most in a two bedroom. And I’ve walked by, and seen ten, 15 people living in these places.

Brokaw: And what about taxes?

Hunkins: Taxes is another thing, you know, I’ve seen a lot of where they—they claim false things on their tax forms. As how many kids they have so they can get deductions and stuff from the government.  It just, you know, I’ve seen ‘em cheat the system.

Brokaw: A lot of the people that have really strong feelings say, “Look these immigrants are taking jobs from Americans.”

Hunkins: I personally disagree with that. I could quit this company and go work for any other company in the valley in a day and have another job.

But it’s a job that most Americans don’t seem to want to do. Remember Ray, the American who was hired the same day as Trino? Ray stopped showing up for work after a few days.

Juan Carlos, Trino’s brother, replaced Ray at the Vail site.

That month, Gould Construction was so short of labor that Brett Gould had to take the controls of an excavator at a housing site.

Brett Gould: They were short some people so I am out here helping out doing my thing.

As Gould struggled to fill jobs, millions of people took to the streets across the country to protest for the rights of illegal immigrants.

Most people were surprised at the sheer number of protestors who turned out and by the intense feelings the demonstrations provoked on both sides of the immigration issue. But because of the groundswell of support for illegal immigrants, a national day of protest was called for May 1^st. 

Illegal immigrants and their supporters were told to stay away from work for one day to prove how critical they are to the U.S. economy.

As the immigrants national day of protest approached, Mark Gould worried that his business might shut down because of a lack of workers.

He hoped they would show HIM some loyalty, since he believes he’s treated them well.

Mark Gould: If you’re giving the guy 14 or 15 bucks an hour. You’re paying him overtime. You’re paying him 50 hours a week and he’s bringing home 7-800 bucks. He is not one of those abused guys. Being out there being paid under the table, I’ll pay you cheap. This is just another legitimate employee from our standpoint it is just another legitimate employee that’s out there working hard for us.

Would these workers who said they came to America for the work stay on the job May 1^st?

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