Yo No Hablo Espanol, Pero Soy Americano...

I haven't yet figured out why the United States caters at all to the Mexicans. Sure, they're generally hard-working, and, okay, they comprise a large percentage of our labor force in agriculture and in construction. But those reasons don't justify forcing native Americans (people born in the U.S.) to have to choose English versus Spanish at the ATM, on any corporate voicemail system, or to look for the English version of the contents of a package at one of the warehouse stores.

Despite our economic problems of the moment, I believe that immigration policy needs to be re-written now. After all, a large portion of the Trillion-dollar plus bailout will, no doubt go to illegal immigrants either via welfare checks or health care and education services.

I propose the following ideas for U.S. immigration reform: 1) Immigrants must be fluent in English except for cases of political asylum. 2) The number of immigrants from each country should be limited to five families per year. This would be on a first-come, first-served basis. 3) English will be the only option in our public schools and in Corporate America. Millions of dollars are spent annually on training programs for employees and on ESL classes in public education. 4) Americans will be given priority in our own colleges and universities, even when GPAs and SAT scores are lower than those from abroad. If there is any space for foreign students after that, a limited number may apply. 5) Gradually deport all illegal immigrants permanently with no chance of re-admittance. This can be done over several years to allow businesses to find replacement labor.

I'm all in favor of adopting the best features from other cultures, but diversity in this country becomes adversity when it restricts the inalienable rights of Americans to pursue happiness, or when it just becomes too aggravating.