This Ain't Mexico

While running errands on Saturday, I saw a sight that gave me pause.

For those of you familiar with the area, I had to shoot over to Willowbrook Mall to pick up my contacts and was coming back on 1960 -- just a bit past Burlington Coat Factory.

In the turning lane sat a new arrival from Mexico. Whether scared up here by swine flu or chasing the American Dream, this street vendor had arrived. He'd set up shop right smack dab in the turning lane with his little streetcart filled with goodies. Additional treats were displayed on the hanging rack above. The stop light was his strip mall, and he was ready to rake in the dough.

That's not how we do it here.

While living in Plano / McKinney we had a front-row seat to the Farmer's Branch illegal immigration battle. Friends of ours are ground-zero in that fight, and we've watched with interest from the very beginning.

The Farmer's Branch city council is just trying to uphold the laws -- laws that are often ignored. I'm not going to get up on a big soapbox over this, but I will say I support their fight. I'm proud to be an American (cue Lee Greenwood), and if you want to be an American, great. But this ain't Mexico. Leave your flag and streetcart behind if you want to live here. Learn English, and earn your way. It can be done. My friend Michael is from China and he's doing just that.

And he's doing it legally.