Here's a quote for you from a man who is normally my complete antithesis: Senor Ray Borane, mayor of Douglas, Arizona and part-time political boss of adjoining town of Agua Prieta, Mexico.
"Saying he wants to give Bush the benefit of the doubt, Borane said those who believe that working on a new guest-worker proposal will stop the flow of illegal immigrants coming into the United States are not looking at the real world.
Illegal immigration "is the fastest, easiest with the least resistance," compared to a bureaucratic process, and people will take the quickest way to come to the United States, Borane said.
That many Hispanic groups in the United States do not seem warm to the president's proposals is disappointing because it leads people in other countries, such as Mexico, to believe the best way to come to America is through illegal means, he said.
Unfortunately, the proposal that illegal immigrants who are in the country working can become legal and then have to leave after three years is not what some Hispanic leaders in the United States and in Mexico want, the Douglas mayor said.
Hispanic leaders and illegal immigrants, want a complete amnesty and an ability to become American citizens, said Borane, who has been against blanket amnesty.
"They want the whole enchilada," he said. "But the problem is an American one. It is American immigration law being violated, not Mexican."
As much as it disgusts me to say so, Senor Borane is right. By the way, the reason he is against blanket amnesty is that his town would cease to exist without smuggler traffic in drugs and humans. Still, in this instance he is right.