Mexico

"Oh, Mexico, I've never really been, so I don't really know..."
So wrote James Taylor in a lyric years ago. Until last week, that applied to me, as well. I've seen a lot of the world, but never been across the border to the south. A kind invitation from my wife's brother to visit his vacation home on the beach at Puerto Penasco changed that. And life there definitely begins on that beautiful beach. Unfortunately, it pretty much ends there as well. Days are pretty much spent waiting for that first Margarita.
By coincidence, we were waiting in an endless line to cross back over only few hours in advance of Bush's visit to the border at Yuma, an hour's drive or so to the west. On the illegal immigration issue, I really can't figure out a coherent position. And reading through the latest proposed legislation, I can see that I'm not alone.
My sister-in-law is a nurse in Arizona, and she informed me how the illegals work the system in order to become eligible for the state's low-income free health care program. It's this kind of stuff that drives the locals nuts. But on the other hand, having now seen life in Mexico, I have to say that if I had been born in their position, I'd be doing exactly what the illegals are. Who doesn't want a better life for their families?
My smart brother-in-law says that the only way to really fix the problem is to improve the Mexican economy so they won't need to flee here. But he's also smart enough to know there's no logical path to doing that.
So for now, while many Americans wish they could snap their fingers and make all the illegals disappear back to where they came from, others privately dread that possibility. The degree to which these people support the lower levels of our economy is probably impossible to calculate. And for every vote in Congress representing beleaguered border communities, there's another backed by U.S. businesses who rely on the cheap, benefit-free labor those workers provide.
So I think we're doomed to a permanent war of words, but no solutions.
Pass me another Margarita...

diderot