Immigration and Mexico -- More coming soon...

The Orlando Sentinel has an interesting article on the issue of immigration and labor in my home state of Florida. It features an old family friend, who will be guest posting here some interesting thoughts on the issue of illegal immigration, Mexico, and the danger to America.

One of five illegal-immigrant workers in the country is in construction, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Victor Carpintero, 48, of Orlando was one of them.

"I was illegal," he said recently. "I made a very good living, too," doing construction work in California in the 1980s before moving to Florida.

Carpintero's story is common among the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. Originally from Honduras, he entered from Mexico on a tourist visa, overstayed his visa and melted into the vast illegal network.

Now a U.S. citizen, thanks to Reagan administration amnesty, Carpintero speaks out about a "threat to American sovereignty" as a result of the influx of illegal workers, primarily from Mexico.

Tighter borders are needed, he said, but they will not prevent people from entering as long as businesses, agencies, social services and other parts of U.S. society condone and encourage illegal immigrants.

"I am not against immigration. But control it and regulate it to benefit the American citizen. This economy needs immigration, but legal immigration," said Carpintero, now a bus driver in Orlando.

Brought to you by Latino Issues, Victor will be sharing a "blog-book"--published in mini-chapters or segments, made available every couple weeks, and as always, open to your comments and debate. This is going to be an inside look at the situation in Mexico in particular, and illegal immigration in general. We hope to be able to offer a print version in the near future, but we'll see. Here is a preview of the first segment, to be published later today or sometime tomorrow.

To my surprise, I found out just how easy it was to avoid the few and weak immigration laws and its enforcement methods, such that they engender and reinforce attitudes of mockery among illegal immigrants against the US and its institutions.

I had to ask myself, "Would I want to see this happen in my native country--to see millions of foreigners arrive and impose their culture, refuse to speak my language, and demonstrate disdain for my people and country?" My answer was I would not appreciate or like that. Would you appreciate that--to have others do to your native country as they are doing to the US? I would think not.

Victor holds nothing back as he provides an inside like--as an outside in Mexico--of the anti-American sentiments taught to Mexican children, and will offer suggested solutions to the mounting problem. Victor's posts are written in an eloquent Spanish, and I do the translation and editing to English. To be clear--Victor speaks a decent English, but finds it easier to write his thoughts in Spanish, hence the arrangement.

Whenever a new segment is published, you will see the above graphic at the head of the blog post. So, make sure to watch for that headline, and sign up for an rss feed to make sure you don't miss it.

Tags: Politics, border, Homeland Security, MEXICO, Immigration, Illegal Aliens, Border Security, GOP, Democrats, Immigrant, Mexico, the great invader