The way to San Antonio is paved with low wages. That is the crux of the argument: does unrestrained immigration dampen the wage rate? San Antonio proves that it does. Sure, some people make $40,000 a year driving tractor-trailers; but if those same jobs pay $60,000 a year in a non-immigrant rich city than the argument is made that immigration dampens the wage rate. San Antonio is booming with low-wage jobs. Is this a boon to anyone but illegal immigrants or those that profit from cheap labor? I know I'm not rushing to San Antonio to take one of these low-wage jobs.

Thank you Kevin. You're absolutely right. There simply can't be an improvement in real wages in this country as long as it is flooded by illegal immigrants who will work for next to nothing, often under the table without obeying the minimum wage. When people say that illegal immigrants do jobs documented Americans won't do, they're being somewhat deceptive-- the truth is, Americans would do those jobs if they paid a living wage. Unskilled workers have absolutely no leverage today because of the 10 million undocumented workers who will take jobs for nothing.

Legalize them, document them, give them amnesty-- and then raise the minimum wage and force them to abide by the labor laws that so many people had to fight so hard for.

And this one makes sense. If San Antonio falls (and it will, if things continue as the dividers would like them to), the bulk of undocumented workers, being nomadic by nature, will go to the next host and suck it dry as well. Meanwhile, those who foster sympathy for illegal presence in this country as the expense of taxpayers (and how can anyone back up the oft-repeated contention that "most" illegal immigrants "pay their taxes", etc.? May we look at their returns? Do they keep them with their drivers' licenses?) continue to foment the notion among these lost souls that they are ENTITLED to be here, to enjoy services we ALL pay for, to swamp our emergency rooms as their alternative to a primary care physician, and all the while they are being reminded that in 1846 the Yanqi came and STOLE this part of Mexico. Well I have an idea! Why not simply cede back to Mexico all this land, the property, the good, the bad and the ugly of the south west, and simply relocate all legitimate citizens to other parts of the country, cease to collect any taxes, give it ALL back, and let MEXICO manage it the way they manage what they have left, which is considerable and clearly beyond their ability or desire to manage in any way at all. People flee Mexico for the US because Mexico SUCKS! The US is a land of opportunity, and as one apologist in the article stated, "It's all about opportunity", which I would suggest makes them opportunists, the way a mosquito opportunistically sucks the blood of one host after another, without permission and to no advantage to the hosts. Once returned to Mexico, the south west would see a drop in property values unheard of since the mesozoic. And rightly so.

San Antonio is a beautiful, diverse city. Ah, diversity! I love it. It suggests DIVISION! While I grew up in what would be described as a "diverse" area in Washington, DC and later its nearby suburbs, the beauty of that diversity was its constant center: being an American citizen. If we simply give that incredible status to anyone who shows up here then it will lost all meaning - if it hasn't already. The Idiot in the Oval Office is in love with the idea of cheap labor and is insulated from you and me by money and privilige and, of course, having been born in the United States.

Illegal aliens are in a bind. So are legal ones, and naturalized ones, because when the backlash from the little binge of left-wing lunacy wears off and the hangover sets in, there will be hell to pay, and just as all middle eastern-looking people (including Sikhs from India, remember?) were targets post 9/11, all the "brown" people who are here on the up and up are going to get the same sort of treatment that the "swarthy" people in our midst got after the Pentagon was struck and the WTC went down. Demanding what one is NOT entitled to, especially during a difficult period in a nation's history, is a sure way to bring down the heat on everyone who even

LOOKS like he (or, of course, SHE)could possibly be One of Them. And nothing will have been accomplished except two steps backward. But a bunch of left-wing lunatics will feel good for a while, just as a bunch of Right Wing lunatics have been feeling good since 9/11.

Everybody's got a problem. Why not try and solve some of them instead of doing that tired old 60's "demand" thing?

As someone who grew up in San Antonio, I can tell you that it is low wage central. There is no boom there....not for the working class. And the illegals absolutely put a drain on the health care system. An undocumented illegal shows up at the hospital and needs $30,000 surgery. They get it, and the 'system' foots the bill. They walk away owing NOTHING, since they claim to be 'indigent'. Meanwhile, many of the nurses (those who can't afford health insurance) would be billed for the same operation if THEY needed it and forced to pay; When they can't they will be harassed by collectors, sued, etc. What a deal!

First of all, I'm thrilled that there's a piece about my hometown. But when you mention the lack of skilled workers, you never investigate WHY those workers aren't present in San Antonio: we leave. I love it there, and I wish I could go back and find work for me, but I'm a graduate student in a scientific field. I'm not really wanted there. I've even tried to temp when I go back for Christmases, but the temp officers tell me up front that there's little work for someone with my skills, and that most of the temps they fill are for manual labor positions. I did some time working for minimum wage at a fast food restaurant when I was in high school, but there's no promise of anything much better than that for me there. Austin sucks many of the young and/or educated people right out of San Antonio. They have a huge university and some high tech industry. I'm glad to hear SA is booming for someone, but I don't think that someone will ever be me.