Glenwood reacts to Brokaw story on illegal immigration

GLENWOOD SPRINGS - An NBC television report on the national debate over illegal immigration aired the day after Christmas is having repercussions in the Roaring Fork Valley. The documentary team headed up by former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw focused on Glenwood Springs contractor Mark Gould and his struggle to fill laborer jobs that he says only Latinos will take.

Gould spoke about his frustration at not being able to hire Americans to do the hand labor required to lay sewer pipe and sidewalks. He said young American men coming out of high school now don't want to start out as ditch diggers for $14 an hour, the current starting wage at Gould Construction.

Without immigrant workers willing to take those jobs - illegal or not - his business would be in deep trouble, he said.

Gould also admitted that at the time he was interviewed for the story last spring, he could have had illegal immigrants on his payroll despite checking documents of prospective Latino workers.

Wednesday Brett Gould's phone was ringing off the hook at the Gould Construction office south of Glenwood Springs. Gould is the director of human resources at Gould Construction.

"By the end of the show I had e-mails, applications for jobs," said Mark Gould from Dallas airport Wednesday afternoon. He was returning from a family vacation over the Christmas holiday. "The hate mail bothered me the most. People want to put their head in the sand about this issue."

During the show, Brett Gould was filmed taking applications from several Latino men and checking their immigration documents. He said the company does everything it can to stay within the law when it comes to hiring.

"We try to not knowingly hire illegal workers," he said in the show.

Also interviewed for the documentary was an Latino worker hired by Gould named Trino. He admitted he was in this country illegally and used a false Social Security number to get the job.

Wednesday Brett Gould terminated Trino and his brother Juan Carlos who had also been hired by the company.

"We had to," he said. "I did not know he was illegal until last night (when the show aired)."

Brett Gould said he felt badly about letting them go. "They're darn good workers. They learned fast. They learned English."

On Aug. 7 Colorado passed a new law requiring prospective employees' documents to be screened by Homeland Security.

"Everyone we've hired since then is legal," he said. But he said he's lost 10 percent of his workforce. He has no praise for the new law.

"The state legislature reacted to many people's opinion. They don't understand the real problem."

Watching the TV show was not comfortable for Mark Gould, but he acknowledged that it's an issue that needs to be discussed more.

"It was hard to watch last night. I didn't feel all warm and fuzzy inside. There's something wrong with the world and we need to fix it. We can't fix it unless we talk about it."