A video on [1] CNN.com tells the sad story of a man who was brought to the US by his parents when he was 9 years old and has since started a family who went to Mexico for fear of being deported.

There are a couple of ways to look at this story.  First, those who oppose anything compassionate towards the undocumented will say “good - illegal is illegal, that way he won’t be wasting our taxpayer dollars, abusing our hospital services etc.”  On the other hand, because this man was the sole breadwinner for his family, perhaps now these three family members, all US Citizens, will need to avail themselves of this country’s social services.

Fair and properly drafted Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) would be both compassionate and in the best interest of the US.  Having said that, most everyone agrees that CIR will not be happening until 2009, after the presidential elections.