<p>I am a very lucky person.&#0160; </p>

<p>I am an American citizen by birth.&#0160; I was born in the Dominican Republic, to a Dominican mother and an American father.&#0160; My father was born in Bogota, Colombia.</p>

<p>I did not set foot in the United States until I was 13 years old.&#0160; The biggest hardship I faced when we entered the country was that we flew coach on American Airlines.&#0160; Kidding!&#0160; Of course not.&#0160; No, My father and his three American children had to leave our mother behind because she had let her US residency slide once they moved to Santo Domingo and started having us, so she had to wait until her paperwork cleared.&#0160; She joined us two months later, and became a citizen five years later.</p>

<p>Life was pretty normal after that:&#0160; I went to school, graduated with honors, earned a couple of academic scholarships for college and graduated from the honors program at my University&#0160; I studied abroad in Spain, came back and found a dream job in the cosmetics industry.&#0160; In six months, I was promoted and became a marketing manager, which helped me earn a full academic scholarship to a top business school.&#0160; I earned an MBA.&#0160; I worked in consumer packaged goods marketing at a huge corporation.&#0160; There is a 100% chance that you have at least one of the products we sold in your bathroom, makeup case or kitchen.&#0160; In other words, I was well on my way to single-handedly taking over the world, BWAHAHAHA!</p>

<p>In many ways, I guess my story personifies the American dream.&#0160; &#0160;And I am lucky, mostly because I worked really, really hard.<br /> </p>

<p>I tell you all this, because all the immigration talk has me very upset.&#0160; I am upset because the media is equating &quot;Hispanic&quot; or &quot;Latino&quot; with &quot;immigrant&quot; and &quot;immigrant&quot; is being equated with &quot;illegal.&quot;&#0160; </p>

<p>First of all, immigrant is not a dirty word.&#0160; &#0160;I may or may not be an immigrant in the literal sense of the word, but my parents certainly are.&#0160; And I am proud of that, so proud that I happily tell everybody that asks about the long and convoluted history of all the wonderful places we&#39;ve lived and how we ended up here.</p>

<p>Second of all, not all immigrants are Hispanic*.&#0160; Duh.</p>

<p>And third of all, not all illegal immigrants are Hispanic*.&#0160; I am insulted that the people who are on both sides of this issue (for and against amnesty for illegal immigrants) are painting it as a &quot;Hispanic*&quot; or &quot;Latino*&quot; issue.&#0160; It is not.</p>

<p>Do you care to know where I stand?&#0160; I am against illegal immigration, whether you cross the Mexican or Canadian border or whether you are an European or Asian student who overstays your visa *cough, cough, cough*.&#0160; Fair is fair.&#0160; My mom had to wait her turn, and I think everybody else should as well.&#0160; </p>

<p>HOWEVER - </p>

<p>I am dismayed at all the &quot;racist*&quot; talk recently about closing our Mexican border, &quot;send them back!&quot;, blah blah blah, because this talk is aimed mostly at people who are of &quot;Hispanic*&quot; descent.&#0160; If you are for deporting all illegals, then be prepared to send EVERYBODY back.</p>

<p>I am saddened by the people who say &quot;Hispanics*&quot; are a drain to the economy.&#0160; That we are not &quot;real Americans&quot; (those people deserve one of my pointy Jimmy Choos up their ass.&#0160; Truly.)&#0160; That we are poor, that we are lazy, that we are criminals, that we are taking more out of the system than we are putting in.&#0160; Please!</p>

<p>I am horrified at the hypocrites who blame all that is wrong with America on the &quot;illegals&quot; yet happily exploit them when they need a cheap nanny, or a housecleaner or a meal.&#0160; These are the people that are up in arms over the price of gas - imagine what would happen if unskilled laborers (whether they were citizens or not) were paid minimum wage, with health benefits and prices went up accordingly.&#0160; Oh the drama!</p>

<p>I don&#39;t have a solution.&#0160; I don&#39;t even have all my feelings on this issue sorted out.&#0160; All I know is that I am seeing a lot of ignorance, a lot of hate and I don&#39;t like it.<br /><em><br />*I hope I don&#39;t have to explain that &quot;Hispanic&quot; or &quot;Latino&quot; is not a race** - or a country - right...RIGHT?&#0160; God, I hope so.<br /><br />**(And to the people who upon meeting me say &quot;you don&#39;t look or sound Hispanic&quot; - what do I say? &quot;Funny, you don&#39;t look or sound smart&quot; - Grrr!)</em></p>
