Contributed by Louie Tacker - HELLO AGAIN FROM AMERICA.

Well, the hot issue here at present is immigration. First, let me tell you that this has been happening here for many, many years - with the Mexicans sneaking over the borders. Businessmen and farmers, particularly the huge growers have been exploiting them to work, pick vegetables and fruits. These Mexicans are actually good and hard working people.

It caught on about 10 years ago that restaurant owners, seeing how good and cheaply they worked, jumped in and hired them. Of course, restaurant work is no joke. You see, I worked in a restaurant when I was in high school years ago and it was the hardest work I ever did. Long hours of dirty hard work for little pay. Well, our youth here today won’t take these jobs, unless paid more money. These immigrants however, will take it - cheap labor, yes, but to them it’s good money as compared to where they come from and they send their earnings back home where it supports their families until they can sneak them in.

So this ’secret labor’ has now surfaced because in recent years it has spread throughout the U.S. where in every city, every small town, for the past 10 years - you can drive up and hire Mexican workers for the day for labor and even some skilled jobs that paid more like masonry and carpentry.

So now that these illegal immigrants have increased in number and spread all over the country - the governmetn has no choice but to recognize the issue. Well, the truth is - the government has known about them long ago, but chose to ignore the problem, as the labor they supply to the country has kept food prices lower, and created a labor force that had great demand, but which our young people don’t want as they consider it ‘menial work’.

Hence, all was well as long as this problem on immigrants was contained. But now, their number has become huge - reaching to about an estimated 12 million of them now living and working here mostly untaxed, yet use the medical system. Aside from this, criminal elements have entered also in the form of gangs and drug smugglers. Border towns have been over run now in the South and in California… so the public has demanded the government to take action. But the problem is how? You can’t just arrest and deport 12 million illegal immigrants!

Deporting these illegal immigrants would surely have an impact on the country. The economy would certainly feel the loss of this ‘invisible’ work force. And yet, will you allow the law to be broken just because of the huge amount of numbers? And let’s face it - these immigrants, although many of them are good and honest hard working people just looking for a better life - have broken the law. Amnesty? Well, is that really fair? Many people want to migrate to the U.S. and go through the long process of paper works and wait many years to do it legally. But here are the illegal immigrants who broke the law and given amnesty. Do you think it does justice to others around the world who can’t just walk across the borders? The answer is NO.

There are many immigrants here in our country who came here legally, passed the tests, learned the language, worked hard so their children could be born here to a better life. Maybe not a perfect life, but a good one where they can have freedom, civil rights and where they can start anew. If they are willing to work hard from the bottom, they can excel. Everyone is welcome, but there must be laws which need to be followed and respected, otherwise there would be no real freedom and opportunity here.

Mexico is so poor, so economically weak that its poor people have nothing to lose by illegally coming over to work. It is here that the owners of business establishments are somewhat guilty, in my opinion, because their greed for cheap labor has encouraged illegal immigration, and has created the atmosphere for this problem.

I have always been bothered that we Americans have stood by all these years, knowing and allowing what was happening, watching another form of slavery exist right under our noses and do nothing to stop it. Yes, I refer to business owners using people to work off the record, paying them below government minimum wages. I see this as equivalent to the dark era in this country of slavery, an era that was only resolved after millions of men were killed in a civil war which was truly the darkest of dark times in this country’s history. Brother killing brother. Outright hatred between blacks and whites… all this in our history. And yet, we let a similar situation happen today where human beings are used, exploited just because they have no voice because if they speak up they will be deported and can no longer support their families.

Don’t we ever learn that history always repeats itself? If we do not learn, we again will have Americans against Americans over this issue. We have people from around the world angry that they have to wait and file and go through the system to get here… If you are reading this from the Philippines, you know how hard and how long it takes to get here. And yet we stood by, and our government did nothing. Big mouths, no actions. Politicians for years ignored this injustice, now only to panic and look for a quick answer. Well, my friends - there is no quick fix, no simple answer. Let them stay and make them citizens? Then we have to change the laws for all who want to come here and an already weak medical system will be overwhelmed, weakening a system that cannot even take care of its legal citizens…

I have pondered on this for a long time and for once, I have no sure opinion as to the cure nor answer to this problem. Oh, sure, there are answers and solutions, but I am trying to think of a FAIR solution.

So those who read this and might have answers in your minds… you are welcome to share them here.