More than 10 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States. Tonight, in partnership with Voto Latino, we’ll present a special two-hour town hall event taking an in-depth look at the complex issue of immigration in America and the emerging role of the Latino population in American life and politics. The event, hosted by MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell with Voto Latino’s Executive Director Maria Teresa Kumar, will air 10pm-midnight ET, live from the University of San Diego.
The show will examine the state of immigration in the United States including the influence of the Latino voting block on the 2010 midterm elections, how Arizona’s immigration laws have affected national progress, and if the American Dream is still attainable for new generations of immigrants. The discussion will also present viable solutions for moving the country forward.
Guests for the town hall will include actress and activist Rosario Dawson, Telemundo’s Jose Diaz Balart, Executive Director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles Alfonso Aguilar, Democratic strategist and pollster Celinda Lake, and Dr. David Shirk, Director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.
You can also participate from home. You can join the discussion through email, Twitter or Facebook.
Send in your questions here:
Email: MSNBCTownHallQuestions@nbcuni.com
Twitter: Reply to @thelastword and @votolatino
(We’ll be live-tweeting the whole show. Just search for #msnbcvl)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thelastword
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I am a Roman Catholic priest who serves a largely hispanic population. I find the hispanics I serve delightful good humored gracious hardworking. I want these people in our country. I dont want the criminals . The way our present system works for the criminals The hard workers live in fear of deportation. I am for comprehensive immigration reform. That calls for a heavy fine for those in country illegally requires them learning English if they are going to work here. ( I dont know if grandma and housewives need to learn English)
Here are my questions. These are not directed to people who legitimately are concerned abouta failed border policy. They are people I can work with. My question is aimed at the haters at the supporter of the Arizona law. Many of these people state they are Christians. OI so they are familir with Matthew Chapter 25:31-46 I would ask of them if they are sheep or goats?
I would ak on a more mundane matter in Arizona who is going to pick the cotton make the beds work in construction how much money will these ill conceived bill cost Areizona?
Give me a brake with the same tired argument because what part of breaking the law you do not understand.
Father, I do not have any Hispanic heritage in my family. The only reason "people" won't do the jobs that illegals do is because the illegals have driven the wages too far below what a citizen can bear.
Two generations ago, my family settled down in this area because my Grandparents were following the harvests as farm workers. The were eventually business owners. My father picked apples as a young man. He is now a very financially secure person. I picked and thinned apples as a young man. Both my brother and my sister traveled with a potato harvesting crew. I now have a college degree.
These types of jobs used to be stepping stones and even subsistence for real U.S. citizens. Good people that should be paid a fair wage for a days work. Please abandon your argument "no one else would do these jobs" - "legitimate citizens can no longer make a living at these jobs" is more accurate. And criminal immigration is the reason.
There has been people picking cotton even before illegals and the fact your a preacher means nothing to me. No one argues that there are good and bad immigrants as there is in all races, but breaking the very laws that make for a civilized society , first by crossing the border, then false or stolen ID, then demanding rights and expecting no criminal time for those crimes is crazy.
Many of my friends and neigbors have had accidents and crimes committed against them by illegals. This does not excuse them. You as a fiqure in the community ignore the plite of others affected by them.
If they want to be here, do it legally, no one argues about legal immigration, its illegal immigration. You as a person of the cloth, should stay out of politics, but since you feel you must air your opinion, then do not use the church to push your politics.
Congrats on your growth, I am a citizen who did it legally, and to allow illegals to commit these criminal acts is an insult to me. I did everything required to be a citizen, including military service during the worst of times. So do not preach to me about illegals being nice, and hard working, as i did the same, but i did it legally and darn proud of it.
Do not insult the legalized american citizen with your "I feel sorry for them" story.
I hate the Arizona law. My children (who are brown) and I will never go to Arizona again or support that state in any way.
Now, having said that, it seems that no light is shone on the massive destruction of wages here due to illegal labor. This occurred in both the meat packing industry and the building industry and has really hurt the American worker. Also, BTW, it was Americans who were originally picking crops (as told beautifully in The Grapes of Wrath) but these companies will not hire US labor now that they can get their labor for a fraction of the price. And exploitable labor!
The only solution is to prosecute businesses that hire illegal labor. There has to be a stop to it.
This country has a right to decide who enters which is why we have immigration law. Mexico is building a wall between it and Guatemala to keep out illegal immigrants but talk about that on our southern border and if you support it you are called a racist.
Rational discussion is needed.
Father, thank you for kind words regarding working my way up from the fields. Just to clarify a little.... Both my father and I did work in the apple orchards here in Washington State. In fact, the school at which he went to high school, I went to high school, and I now teach used to let school out for 2 weeks each year at apple harvest time. More than half of the kids in school would go owrk in the orchards. Neither I, nor my father were raised poor. It's just that the apple harvest was a viable way to make some decent money real quick if you were willing to work. Picking or thinning apples is just not a viable option anymore - money wise.
It's not because citizens WOULD NOT do it, it's because the illegals will do it for SO much less. The shame here lies with the orchardists - they are the ones that break the rules, court the illegal labor, and pocket the profit from the cheap wages.
The orchardists and the illegal aliens share the blame. They are both breaking the law. And neither my children, nor the less fortunate LEGAL citizens can make a fair wage because of it. The illegals should get to live in their own country and the employers should be punished for breaking the law for profit.
Thank you for you service, commitment, and open dialogue.
sorry ak is asked I am a horrible typist.
How do we keep the migrant workers here? What is the best solution? I say if they pay taxes here, they should be allowed to stay. As citizens. How do we do this?
IT'S THE EMPLOYERS STUPID!
EVERY SINGLE UNDOCUMENTED WORKER HAS AN AMERICAN EMPLOYER WHO IS BREAKING THE LAW.
Several laws,such as the minimum wage law,the payroll tax laws and the Social Security laws.FIDCA,too.
These employers are committing felonies inorder to avoid hiring Americans for a fair wage.
Why is our? government and law enforcement looking the other way,and not enforcing EXISTING LAW?..
If they would just target and raid a small percentage of law breaking employers.Arrest,jail and fine them,the rest of the employers would get the message and fall in line.They would let go of their undocumented (virtual) slaves,and hire Americans in their place...10 million of us.
No more sky high unemployment.
Being unemployable thanks to the enforcement of existing law,the "undocumented" would go back home.
WHY WONT THIS EVER HAPPEN?..BECAUSE REPUBLICANS WANT (VIRTUAL) SLAVE LABOR AND DEMOCRATS WANT TO PANDER FOR LATINO VOTES.
THEREFORE THIS COUNTRY'S ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL NEVER GET THE ORDER TO ENFORCE THE LAW AND LOCK UP AND IMPOSE STEEP FINES AGAINST LAW BREAKING SLAVE OWNERS...AMERICAN EMPLOYERS THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE COUNTRY.
CONSTRUCTION,CONTRACTING,INFRASTRUCTURE ROAD AND BRIDGE REPAIR
GROCERY STORES AND HOTELS
HOSPITAL CUSTODIAN JOBS
RESTAURANTS
SCHOOLS
EVERYWHERE YOU GO IN AMERICA YOU WILL SEE THE "UNDOCUMENTED" WORKING IN PLACE OF THE AMERICAN UNEMPLOYED...WORKING FOR HALF THE FAIR MARKET WAGE.
I agree to many points in your statement.
Your analysis is 100% correct and I fully agree that the employers and the lawmakers are a huge part of the problem ... and they are never prosecuted.
However, your argument has one fatal flaw ... by now many Americans are rather collecting unemployment or welfare than taking one of those "demeaning" jobs in restaurants, farming, etc.
It the employers. Put them in jail and that will slow down.
I watch and agree with O'Donnell a lot. But I was very disappointed how one sided this town hall was. This DID NOT moved the illegal immigration discussion further, it just went and rehashed all the old bumper sticker slogans over and over again. "Well you can't deport 11 million people".
THEY WILL LEAVE when there are no jobs. There will be no jobs when you puts soem employers in jail.
WHAT about the Americans. What about the millions of Americans who need jobs. Who a college education. Why are we working to help them, the illagal aliens, and not helping Americans.
I completely agree. No-one is addressing the incredible damage this has done to the American worker and the destruction of their wages.
the undocumented are being exploited as virtual slave labor throughout the whole country...not just the border states.
illegals are contributing...to unemployment
this is not "FEAR" this is FACT
stop condescending Americans like this...it is not about fear,it is about jobs!!!
Americans cannot compete against virtual slave labor
Show me where you are getting your facts. I would like you to cite your sources.
Center for Immigration Studies - http://cis.org/;
Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) - http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer;
"Illegal Immigrant Population of the United States" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigrant_population_of_the_United_States
also: google "Illegal Immigration in the United States"
How do you justify immigration reform under the existing employment situation?
Decades of military adventures, covert operations and systematic economic pressures have geared much of Latin America’s economy toward the profit needs of U.S.-based multinational corporations, no matter the impact to ordinary workers and farmers in those countries.
The result is millions of economic refugees forced to flee northward for better opportunities. If conservatives and anti-immigration individuals are so interested in stopping the flow of immigrant labor to the U.S., then they should be loudly calling for a repeal of imperialist trade agreements and other policies that undermine independent local economies in Latin America. Not surprisingly, however, they choose not to bite the hand that feeds them.
"being recruited" by law breaking employers
exactly right...but stop pretending ignorance about what to do about this is not acceptable...nor is it acceptable to raise the phony distraction issue of rounding up all 12 million illegals.
the illegal aliens don't have to be round up in the first place,only a small fraction of their EMPLOYERS have to be round up
it is the employers..the employers are the issue,and the ONLY relevent issue
you crack down on the law breaking employers,and the illegals will go back home on their own
Nobody talks about the causes for Mexican immigration to the US. See we have NAFTA that fills the mexican market with cheap corn. Corn is the staple of Mexicans. If farmers cannot cultivate their food. What is the option? Migrate or starve to death. Then, when they tried to fix their corrupt governments the US helps those governments to repress them. Hypocrisy Hypocrisy
When are we going to stop sugar coating this issue? If you are in this country illegally then you are breaking the law, period. This isn't a law that is in a shade of gray, it is written in bold black letters. If you don't like it then change the law, but I don't see anybody stepping foward to do that because it would be political suicide. I work with a number of latinos and all of them went through the right steps to become americans. you can blame and point fingers at who you want, but untill the law changes, it is the law that must be inforced in this country. I follow the law and expect everybody in this country to do the same, if you don't then you should pay the price.
Thank you , thank you . I am tired of people asking the dumb question what we should with them. Make it very hard to work and live here and when caught ....deport immediately.
the latino actresses do not know what they talking about..."who would do all those jobs if the undocumented left?.."
AMERICANS!!!
Who made her rich? The middle class going to see her movies-
Right start picking the potatoes see how long you would last.
If you start watching closely, only upper-middle class to wealthy people ever say "who else would do these jobs?"... well, yeah, they wouldn't. But there are about 50 million people across the U.S. that would. Many used to do just that.
Oh, right. And that's why so many Americans started working with the Take Our Jobs Program, in which immigrants, not necessarily illegal, offered to give their jobs to regular Americans who wanted them. Less than 10 Americans did.
Before illegal immigration can be fixed. Legal immigration needs to be thoroughly over hauled. Just to get a green card in some employment based category take more than five years and more. And the only thing USCIS is doing is increasing the fees. What action is being taken to fix legal immigration right now.
there are plenty of "unskilled workers" among [Americans]
AND there skilled Americans who have lost their jobs to China,and badly need a lower paying,less technical job
what planet are these gals from?..they're not latino,they're nobraino
I agree and those jobs can help clear our welfare roles and put U.S. born citizens to work.
Both skilled and unskilled American laborers have lost their jobs to the money-hungry, anti-union corporations who packed up shop to re-establish themselves in nations where they would not have to adhere to the same laws they would if they remained in nthe U.S.
I am sure that you have worked as Farmworkers 80 hours a week under 100 degrees temps.
There is nothing "demeaning" for Americans about working on a farm or at a restaurant...Those were my first 2 jobs...I worked HARD on my Grandparents farm in Little Valley,NY and my first payroll job was at McDonalds.
Farms and Restaurants have been a part of the American way of life for hundreds of years...But all that said,there are countless OTHER posisions being taken up by the undocumented who getting half of the fair market wage.
Again,there are NO JOBS Americans will not do for $7.25/hr on up,especially during a long term recession.
And it is asinine in the extreme for Latino Vote panderers to ask how will we round up and deport millions of illegals.
NOT ONE has to be rounded up.Just a few of their slave owner,law breaking EMPLOYERS...Make examples out of a few of THEM once in a while,and every other employer will fall in line and hire Americans instead of the illegals.
There are tens of millions of skilled and unskilled Americans who need work,and there are tens of millions of skilled and unskilled illegals and so called "guest workers".Fire them and hire us.
When unemployable,most illegals and guest slaves will go back home ON THEIR OWN.
There is no natural reason why Mexico cannot be built into a first world country.Mexicans must stop running away from their own country,and start taking care of business in their own country.
Decriminalising and ending the drug war would go a long way in restoring law and order,and creating a stable environment for economic development in Mexico.
But displacing millions of Americans out of job and home is no moral solution,but is a wicked one.You do not help one man by victimizing another man,taking his livelihood away...This is what has happened to tens of millions of Americans,who's employment has been supplanted by Chinese and Mexican (virtual) slave labor.
Only the wicked elite have profited from this,economically and politically.And they seek to keep it going.
We need immigration reform NOW! And most Americans need to get EDUCATED and stop saying for immigrants to go get legalized like if it was as easy as just going to the store paying a fee and that's it you are legal.
It's not supposed to be easy. Crossing the border illegally 6 or 8 times isn't easy, is it?
One of the most important questions should be how do we assist Mexico to make it a country that people don't run away from and want to reside in?
I completely agree.
Exactly. Start at the root of the problem.
Illegals need to go, all of them. And, we need to repeal the 14th Amendment. This propaganda program tonite made me want illegals gone even more!
I agee but the 14th ammendment does not need to be repeal but illegals do need to be deported immediately.
I am an African-American , veteran , tax payer and registered voter (have voted in every election since turning 18). In talking with family members and friends who are African American the vast majority does not support illegal aliens or changing the law. I expect my law makers to follow the rule of law. People who wish to enter and live in the United States must follow the laws and for those who have not followed the laws should be deported immediately. I am not for any form of amnesty, dream wish or guess worker programs. If these politicians are able to change to appease a portion of our population by changing the law then I will forced to ask what other laws will be changed to accommodate. I will not vote for any candidate who support these measures. Last election cycle I did not vote for any Democratic candidate( not because of the racist tea party or stupid /dumb Sarah Palin). I am tired of the Democratic party and their pandering for votes and not looking out for the best interest of this nation.
Michael, you are making yourself look like a fool with the excessive use of your caps lock button. Just chill out.
The fight against immigration is coming from a place of fear, though there are facts to support that fear. There is a question every individual should ask themselves, and that is "is this rational?"
With the economic status of our country, we are afraid that the increase of population will increase our problems. Unemployment, federal funding, taxes, etc. I love what Rosario had to say about building from new fresh ideas and not working from the grounds we started. The times they are a changin'!
The assumption that every Latino is an immigrant is astonishingly ignorant. Why are these people in Fremont, Nebraska so fearful of the Spanish language? Why does it matter if there are groups of people speaking a different language? Those people are the classic traditional 50's conservative Americans. Guess where your heritage comes from? Another country. Some of those people are probably German, French, or Polish. And guess what? They speak another language. I wonder how they would react to a group of Frenchmen having a discussion outside of a local coffee shop. I doubt the discrimination would be as severe.
typical fear factor from the left........your the ones who look scared by putting a one way town hall show on tv.
Latinos will be the majority so get used FEAR is REAL
"The assumption that every Latino is an immigrant is astonishingly ignorant"
Who said EVERY Latino?.Not I.
Not ignorant...AWARE.WIDE AWAKE.
No fear.Just frustration with false premises.1 after another after another...
I am not talking about hispanics/latinos , I am talking about illegal aliens period.
The assumption that every Latino is an immigrant is astonishingly ignorant.
That's exactly what scares me the most right now. I was glad when Lawrence brought in people to talk about the fact that not all illegal aliens are Hispanics.
Can you ask about the DREAM ACT, what are we going to do with the estimated 2 million students who graduate high school , go to college, get a dregree but find themselves unable to work in the field they specialize in because they don't have a piece of paper?
It is not America's problem it is the problem of people making bad decision. I am glad I do not live in California. People are missing the point these people are breaking the law.
so far this been 30 minutes of distraction from the real cause of the effects
the LAW BREAKING SLAVE DRIVING EMPLOYERS
round up just a few of them
the police don't want to get involved in the middle of this?!.SAY WHAT...ENFORCE THE LAW...Or are you in the pocket of business owners who want to keep their slaves...if so then you are a corrupt cop and you should go to jail as well!
35 minutes into this bs broadcast,and i'm supposed to stay tuned for another diversionary issue,the undocumented children of the undocumented (virtual) slaves...the slave babies are not the issue either,O'Donnell!!!
this whole thing is a bs waste of time...goodbye,see you in the 2011 riots
You can just walk across the border, give birth, and say "wala- your an american". if that was the case, I could go to mexico (or any other country) give birth and say "wala-your a mexican". theres only 8 corners in a box, if you cut to many corners you won't have a box!!!
that needs to be stopped and giving birth certificates to illegals aliens should not occur.
The opening of the show was very funny. A bunch of whitepeople griping about how the people from the south were displacing them and their way of life.
It was their ancestors who did the exact same thing--except they were bloodthirsty mass murderers. So I give them some credit for not going out and just killing the new illegals. That will be the death of the whitepeople.
The people coming north are not "latino" or "Hispanic." They are pureblood and mixedblood indigenous peoples. They are the descendants of the People that the whites murdered and shoved into concentration camps. And they are coming back to reclaim their indigenous heritage and their indigenous land. This is not some stupid "reconquista," it is the return of Native people taking back their land and their home.
Many of them don't realize this, they have been so corrupted by Spanish propaganda, culture, and language. Many know it deep in their hearts, but do not acknowledge it, out of some brainwashing-resulted shame. But be sure of this, they are indigenous, and they are coming back north not just for jobs, but really to retake their homeland.
And they bring with them parts of their Native culture that will destroy the whiteman. Not just their familial and cultural cohesion and refusal to become blended into the dominant culture, though that is critically important. They bring coca and marijuana, native plants that Native People knew how to respect, and use in a respectful way. The whiteman does not know these things, and so these indigenous plants have been corrupted and distorted, to the destruction of the physical, psychological, and moral fibre of the whiteman. The more drugs that whitepeople use, the more they lose their control over their lives, their people, and their society.
They kill themselves because they are not of this land, its people, and its resources, and they reject the knowledge the indigenous people could have given them. They corrupt themselves, and hurl their country into bankruptcy and decrepitude, because they can think only of themselves, their greed, gluttony, and power.
Those whitepeople in the opening know they are at the end of the trail. Their way of life is fading, and they are walking into the sunset. Other countries are taking control of their future, their money, their lives. Those other countries will treat whitepeople just like Indians.
And Native People will reclaim their earth.
yeah,more white bashing,that's what we need more of... like we need more autism from the pharmaceutical companies
no one is to blame but law breaking employers who don't want to hire Americans
Silly whiteman. Its about the fundamental corruption of this land and the people who now dominate it. It's about how Mother Earth and her people have been desecrated. It's about how whites came out of caves to bash and smash anything that offended their inflated sense of themselves. The pain and suffering you exhibit is the result of your peoples' own obsessions, their confusion, their own pain and suffering, living in a world that they have taken by force, and that is now shaking them off. It is the end of the trail for you; walk on into the sunset with dignity.
Pocahontas, do we really need to go back to native America? I agree that it was the most despicable and shameful part of this country's history, but this is now. Being part Cherokee and part Choctaw, I believe that Andrew Jackson was one of our worst presidents. That was then, and this is now. The melting pot of yore has long been full and is overflowing. There are laws in this country for a reason. Everyone needs to follow the law, and officers need to be able to enforse it.
"That will be the death of the whitepeople [sic]..."
"...they have been so corrupted by Spanish propaganda, culture, and language..."
"...they bring with them parts of their Native culture that will destroy the whiteman..."
"...these indigenous plants have been corrupted and distorted, to the destruction of the physical, psychological, and moral fibre of the whiteman..."
"...They [whitemen] kill themselves because they are not of this land, its people, and its resources, and they reject the knowledge the indigenous people could have given them..."
"...Other countries are taking control of their future...Those other countries will treat whitepeople just like Indians..."
[and then]
"...And Native People will reclaim their earth."
The kind of talk to make a case against yourself.
Clint Apple: "Everyone needs to follow the law"? Consider this:
"Law is organized force used by the ruling class to shape the social order in a way favorable to itself." -- Nelson Mandela
So much for what the law is. Something manipulated by the dominant culture to kill the tribes, the people, the past. Something used by racist liars like "Dick" Blumenthal to continue the racist Termination policy of the 19th Century in Connecticut today. The past lives, and the whiteman continues to oppress us in the ways of the past, right up to today. You need to learn your history, your whole history, from then to now.
The past is with us today. The evil done in the past does not disappear just because days goes by. That evil is with us today. It is not ancient history. It is the way of the whiteman then and now, and it is why the whiteman's rule is fading away, his society corrupted and turned against itself, devouring itself, destroying itself.
Head-in-a-spin: You must learn to write coherently. Your only sentence makes no sense. Back to grade school grammar you go.
angelino: stay the @!$%# out of my neighborhood,if you know whats good you.....you"ll get whats coming to you soon enough!
Very true Cracked-crevasse-brain. We will get what's ours, very soon. As you crazy people rip and tear at each other, and pull each other down, we're staying right here, watching everything. And when you all finally exhaust each other, and your "civilization" finishes falling apart, as it is doing right now, we will be ready to retake possession of what is ours and always has been.
'Your neighborhood" is our land. You are destroying it. And we will have it back, and heal it. Goodbye pathetic, evil whiteman.
Please go home illegals. I am a democrat and I want ALL illegals gone! and, I am an African-American.
I agree, I am African-American as well and strongly believe deportation should be enforced.
Great Program! What happened to well educated immigrants from other continent including Africans who came in visa but over stayed or family based visa who are not aloud to visit their country but only authorized to work with EAD for more than 5years?
Thanks
Those Africans should be deported .... once againif you are breaking the law. I am a Black American and show no bias in who should be deported immediately.