america- the home of the free, brave, and illegal

This is MY country's flag. I was born here in the good ol' USA to parents who were also American-born citizens. My grandparents were either also born in this country or immigrated here legally, through Ellis Island. One set of great-grandparents immigrated here legally from Germany via Canada. I am proud of my German/Austrian/Native American/whatever else heritage and the fact that my ancestors sought a better way of life for themselves and future generations. Not one of them came here in a secret cargo hold, through a tunnel, or in the back of a U-Haul. Not one of them had to enter the country under an assumed name and marry a "native" to stay in the country. As a family we have always welcomed those less fortunate, no matter, their color or race into our family. My uncle immigrated to this country after WWII from the Ukraine. It was not easy and he had to be separated from his future wife (my aunt) for a very long time in order to be a productive AND LEGAL American citizen.

I have always agreed with those that talked about the need for immigration reform and providing services for new immigrants and such. But it wasn't until I had some personal experiences that I got upset, angry, committed to doing something to stop what has become a national epidemic. The following numbers, constantly growing, are provided by Immigration Counters. They are alarming and should cause all of us, tax-paying, hard-working, patriotic American citizens to sit up and take notice and then do something about it.

19,640,057 *** the number of illegal immigrants in our country

$31, 000,000,000 ***wired to Mexico since Jan. 2006

1,989,615 ***anchor babies born since 2002 = my grand-daughter is one of these, according to wikipedia. This is the definition. "...term for a child born in the United States, to immigrants or other non-citizens. ...refers to the supposed role of the child, as a U.S. citizen in facillitating family reunification through immigration..."

Since dealing with my grandbaby's biological father i have come to understand the immigration situation a little better.

I know these things.

*Not everyone who enters this country illegally is a bad person.

*Not everyone who enters this country legally is a good person.

*I will do everything in my power to protect the innocent and defenseless when it comes to immigration issues.

*I will do everything in my power to protect my daughter and grand-daughter from lies, manipulation, and danger.

*I will do everything in my power to campaign for immigration reform, laws, whatever until our government does what it needs to do and gets the immigration problem under control.

Protect what is ours LEGALLY, support LEGAL immigrants, and do what you can for immigration reform.