Congratulations on being born in America!

I have followed the recent debate about immigration policy with a good deal of frustration. All of these blowhards who want to build a giant fence around to border and deport illegals seem extraordinarily proud of themselves just because they had the good sense to be born in America. Whatever.

I am a native of California's Central Valley and so I grew up around a lot of people who were illegal, mostly folks from Mexico who were working the agricultural jobs in the area. All I can ever remember my parents saying is that farmworkers had hard jobs, the hardest jobs around and jobs vital to the success of agriculture and our community. So I grew up admiring the work ethic of people who struggle so much for a buck. As far as I am concerned, they are welcome in this country, this nation of immigrants. Open the gates and invite 'em in.

A few weeks ago I was working late at school and the late-night maintenance crew kept checking on me. I don't know if these folks are illegal (and I certainly could care less). I do know that they are hard workers and they are nice people. Most don't speak much English (and God knows I speak no Spanish) and so we would have these polite smiling conversations that night. Finally, dope that I am, I realized that they were worried about me --- worried that the teacher was working so late and still had to teach school the next day. But they were working too and I'll bet that the maintenance job at school was a second job for all of them.

I was working late because I'd spent the weekend playing with my son and relaxing with my family. I should have been writing midterm exams. But I didn't because I was having fun. So here I was writing exams at 11 pm on a Tuesday night. The hardworking people around me were likely at their second jobs of the day. They would get up early the next day and work yet another 18 hour day. They were missing time with their families just so that their kids would have food on the table and a warm bed to sleep in. And they were worried about me.

Heaven knows we need more good people like them in this world. And if the good people want to come to America to work ----- like the 11-12 million good people who work here illegally right now ----- then we should welcome them with open arms. We owe it to them, we owe it to ourselves, and we owe it to our ancestors, the ones who worked hard to come to America so that their descendents could be born in the land of milk and honey.

Do we really want to be the generation that finally shuts the door to the land of opportunity?