The much-criticized claim about "jobs Americans won't do" seems to have left the president's vocabulary. But though opponents of illegal immigration call the jobs claim a myth, the network news media have adopted it as an argument that needed addressing.

"The American people are the ones hiring these people in many cases to do jobs they don't want to do," NBC's Matt Lauer reminded his "Today" guest on May 1. "Few people question the ability of illegal immigrants to work hard and, according to labor statistics, work cheap on jobs most Americans are unwilling to do," said CBS's Byron Pitts on the April 10 "Evening News."

...White House adviser Dan Bartlett appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room" May 26 saying, "And we need to have a system that is above board, across the board that deals with the realities of our economy and the realities of workers who are doing jobs that Americans won't do."

..."Many argue that immigrants take jobs that Americans won't do at wages Americans won't accept," Brian Williams said [on NBC "Nightly News" on April 10]. Carl Quintanilla soon followed with: "Pick 20 workers in the U.S. at random, and one of them is an illegal immigrant, doing jobs most Americans wouldn't take for wages they wouldn't want."