I’m a 25 year old “Mexican-American” with a Bachelor degree in Information Technology. I make nearly six figures a year, own two cars, have no debt, pay my taxes, and vote. The “man” doesn’t owe me anything, he isn’t out to get me or artificially want’s to hold me back In reality what I really am is an American, not Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, or Chicano, but simply in American with a Mexican heritage.

This is not about the color of my skin, ancestors, or parents, it’s about the law. If you break said laws you should be punished, if things are hard in your country of origin, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t give you the right to disobey laws. That’s like saying, “I lost my job, I have mouths to feed, I can’t make ends meet so now it’s fair game to steal a purse, rob a bank, or write bad checks.” If you want to come to America for a “better life” do it the right way, do it the way tens of thousands (hundreds?) do it every year. If you want to march, march in your countries of origin and petition your governments for a better relationship with America to increase Visas, Work Permits, etc. You want “human rights”, how about asking your governments of origin for running water, sewer systems, and social funded programs. You want “equal treatment” how about complaining in your countries of origin for corrupt politicians, police chiefs and systematic “power/wealth” hierarchies.

BTW, when illegal immigrants say “we do jobs that Americans don’t want to”, they are wrong. In reality, illegal immigrants do the jobs Americans DON’T HAVE TOO. That’s where we as Americans have blame. We want cheap labor, goods, and services but quickly turn into hypocrites when immigration laws aren’t obeyed or jobs are lost. It’s the classic story of the chicken or the egg, if employers wouldn’t hire illegal immigrants and the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS really (I mean REALLY) followed through, this problem would drastically improve. We as Americans have more then enough uneducated, down in their luck, or lazy, citizens to do “those” jobs. There is no such thing as a job that’s “below you”, when times are hard swallow your pride, put your arrogance aside and “pull yourself up by your own boot straps”.

Also, why is it that American tax payers have to absorb the cost of sending illegal immigrants back to their country of origin? Don’t we get it? These foreign governments are loosing very little with “processing” people that we send back. It certainly isn’t enough for them to actually put measures in place on their side of the border. I feel confident in saying that if (enter country of choice here) had to pay X amount of dollars to America for returning every immigrant that entered illegally X country would be more then willing to help us.

There are a myriad of things that need to be implemented to help control this problem, but the bottom line is that it comes down to ONLY one thing. Illegal immigrants don’t come to America to vote, visit historic landmarks, or culture, they come for MONEY. As long as individuals, corporations, or small business’s employ them they will not stop coming, no matter how severe the repercussions are. On the same token, if foreign governments don’t provide their citizens decent paying jobs, what incentive do they have not to come? Even with stricter laws they may no longer come to America per say but that’s not the solution. Sweeping the problem under the rug or passing it off doesn’t work. That has been the approach to poverty in our country and we all know how ironic it is to see homeless people around the corner from the financial district or upscale restaurant.
Mike