Can I just say that I am sick to death of these blanket statements about Mexicans? Gangs. Drugs. Welfare. Poverty. Too many kids. Lazy. Stupid.

Anyway, I am repulsed by this constant bombardment of vile erroneous depictions of an entire group of people. Every day, especially in an area so close to the border, I have interactions with Mexican immigrants countless times a day. Have I ever been assaulted? Have I ever been offered drugs? Disrespected in any way? Have I ever had even one minor altercation with a Mexican immigrant? No. And I have had plenty of opportunities. All I see are people who work their butts off, learn the language and the customs, smile at me, hang out with their family, love their community, and are a growing force to be reckoned with. And maybe that’s the problem. Maybe there is too much influence and it bothers the insecure. What is the percentage now of Latin American/south American/ Hispanic people in this country? Over 50%.

Yes, we need to do something smart with our borders.

Yes, criminal checks for people coming in is probably good idea.

But since when is knowing what the stripes on the flag stand for a good indicator of dutiful citizenship? My oldest son said that’s like going for a job interview and the guy saying – what do the circles around the M in our logo stand for? It has nothing to do with how you will do your job, it’s just stuff you learn. I know plenty of people who aren’t all that good at memorizing facts, but are excellent people. Likewise, I know people full of facts and full of something else too. A civics test is not a good indicator of model citizenship.

But of course something must be done.

It embarrasses me that we squint our collective eyes at people who are the backbone of this country. It embarrasses me that we are looking at people and labeling them criminals and people who want to suck the system dry when in fact the opposite is true.