[Sonambulo]

Hey Suki- although I agree in large part with a number of you points and I see certain aspects of the puzzle in the same way, to dismiss the problems caused by immigrants out of hand is naive and contrary to the facts. Most understand that "americans" dont want to take low paying jobs that immigrants wind up taking. However, we also know that this is also helping to maintain that low wage for all and driving wages down, in general.

In the City of Newark where I work the good paying labor jobs are largely going to Portugese, Brazilian, Ecuadorean and Peruvians. [The Portugese have become so powerful and have set up construction companies that mostly hire their own and shut others out]; you see this in government where these same groups are replacing Puerto Rican and Black workers, who are barely maintaining their numbers in the ranks. You see this in the retail sector. In the medical sector, Phillipino nurses are increasing exponentially.

Now I want to be clear and say that I have nothing against some legal migration and recognize that the country needs it. I also believe that those illegals who can prove they have been here more that two years should be given asylum and place in the track towards citizenship. Most of these people are decent and hard working. None the less they are creating significant competition of jobs between the traditional minorities Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and blacks, and the "new" minorities, which include the aforementioned groups. [Largely thanks to the US employers who have look the other way when it comes to the question of hiring legal aliens]. Perhaps in your personal sphere you are not seeing this, but, I definitely see a problem.

Now I also understand that their are other dimensions to this problem; minorities who dont do enough for themselves; companies that conspire to import large numbers of legal and illegal immigrants, the governments failure to slow down legal immigration and stop illegal immigration, among other dimensions. This is a complex problem that produces not so complex consequences.

This is not a very pleasant or politically correct topic and it stirs a whole bunch of emotions in many people, but I am certain there are people on this board who have seen some of what I am talking about.

A future topic: " 'MODERN' WHITE WOMEN" THE EMERGING FACE IN THE NEW MILLENIUM- [this one will really be politically incorrect].