Can You Find the Immigrant in This Picture?

Not all immigrants are created equal. That is to say, when the "golden door" opens and a new immigrant passes beneath the "lifted lamp," sometimes we get a deal... and sometimes we don't do as well.

I've been working with the lady in the picture - the one that doesn't look like your typical Hoosier - for over ten years now. Everyone is always glad to see her when she arrives at work because she works hard and is in a perpetual good mood. When she's not working with us us, she is at her second job. There are rumors that she actually does take a day off now and then.

She was born in the Philippines - her father participated in the Bataan Death March. She came to this country the old fashioned way...legally. She paid the money... She did the paperwork... And one day she lifted her right hand, said a few words, and became an American.

I've met and worked with many people who were born in the Philippines. When two of them are alone together they usually chatter away in Tagalog, but when an Anglo enters the room they generally switch to English - because anything else would be impolite.

Unlike Muslim immigrants, Filipinos have found no need for a Council for American-Filipino Relations. And, unlike many illegals, they don't demand that their children be taught in their native tongue - oddly these people expect to speak English in the United States. They don't whine, they don't complain - they just work and raise their families.

From my experience with these people I've come to the following conclusion: If one day you miraculously transported half the Philippine population to America, two things would be true.

1) There would be a big jump in unemployment... but just for a couple days. These people would find work.

2) Our culture would not change.

Why do these Filipinos - unlike others - make such great and successful immigrants? Simple. First of all they come from a Christian Country with Christian values - a country whose citizens are not raised to expect the government to take care of them. They have pride in themselves. They don't come here to hide and rip us off. They come to play by the rules and make a better life for themselves - and they're ready to work for it. They don't expect us to change for them - they expect to adapt.

And how does my immigrant friend feel about illegal immigration? How does she feel about the years and money she's spent trying to get her daughter - a registered nurse - legally into this country through legal channels - while freeloaders illegally cross the border with impunity?

You don't want to get her started.