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I resent being presumed a racist just because I voted for California's Proposition 187 which would have cancelled services like medical care and public education for illegal aliens (from ANY country). Folks, the only difference between Mexico and Albania is thousands of miles including about 3,000 of them salt water.  That's a far better deterrent than a metal fence in San Diego or El Paso.  I can't believe that the Repubs AND the Demos are both trying to reel in the Hispanic vote by kowtowing to people who want citizens' rights for people who didn't go thru the process to be here legally.

These are "ILLEGAL Aliens".  We are providing services to people who have broken the law. What's the message here?

Many folks of Latino descent agree with my stance here:  THEY went thru the process; THEY worked very hard (overcoming additional barriers that lucky natives like me do not have to endure, like racists, lack of language fluency, cultural bias in business, educational disadvantages, et al) to get where they are now, and THEY must make the kind of money necessary to live a decent life in the USA, and the next thing they know someone just off the smuggler's van is willing to work for half the price because they are willing to live in a canyon or 10-to-an-apartment.

I resent having to "Press One for English". English is our national language. When I'm in Mexico or Europe, I don't expect anyone there to speak English (except for tour guides for whom I've paid for their ability to speak English). I don't care how many people are here from Central/South America; do your homework before you come.  Or find someone who can translate for you until you learn the language.

If you think I'm racist, you're not listening.  I work with people of all races all the time.  I love learning about different cultures. I have no problem with someone who does their share, tries to get ahead, tries to, at least, be tolerant to people of other backgrounds, and tries to do the right thing (live and let live, don't violate another's civil rights). I wish you could talk to my friend Raul in Mexico. He's 50/50 Chinese and Korean and he's 100% Mexican and we had a great time working together in the US and I miss his company.

I'm not against immigration; I'm FOR control. Control of our borders, our costs, our tax-dollar outlays in public services.  You can't run something right when it's out of control. If you start with a clean slate and then provide the ONLY methods for arriving in this country, you have control and you have efficiency.

And PLEASE don't throw the "lettuce crisis" scenario at me. "If you sent all the illegals home who would do the menial jobs that we are all unwilling to do? Who will pick the lettuce? Can you IMAGINE what will happen to the price of lettuce if legal workers had to pick it?"  You're right, of course. We'd never have lettuce again.  Or green beans. The crops would lay there and rot while we'd all become 100% carnivores. Kids would LOVE it:

As it stands we're paying farmers NOT to grow crops so the prices go up, so zucchini would already have that all-American subsidized-style margin built right in!  Sorry, we're not gonna run out of lettuce because there are no more illegals to pick it.  The price WILL go up but, in a capitalist economy this huge, something else will take its place, make it more efficient to grow/harvest, subsidize it, whatever.  The lettuce crisis is just a way to justify people who shouldn't be here.

What about a "guest worker" program?  People who have come here LEGALLY, via the proper process, are documented so we know where they are and what local economies will be affected and what local tax-bases will have to be subsidized to provide them with the basic services every person in this country LEGALLY deserves. People who are here for "the season" who know they will be shipped back at the end of the season knowing they've made some good money, maybe got their kids a decent education, perhaps had some medical help they'd not get at home, and who might be able to come back next year (maybe with a green card this time).  I'm sorry we can't all be luck-of-the-draw fortunate native gringos like me, but then I don't care that we can't all be luck-of-the-draw fortunate rich kids from Beverly Hills or The Hamptons, either.  Life sucks; then you die. You work for a better life, like I'm doing even though my daddy could only send me to a poor, wretched, private university and not an IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL.  DAMN, YOU DADDY!!!

Man, I guess I really had something to say about THAT!