Walk out? What walk out?

On May 1st, 2006, large numbers of illegal aliens and their supporters did not show up for work, and agreed not to buy anything in order to send a message to the people of the United States about their relevance here. I wonder if they also refused any social or medical services that day - probably not, as that would have sent the wrong positive message.

There was little affect, as far as I can tell. Life went on. I saw some news comments about it, but otherwise, it was just another day for Joe American.

One guy, who owned a company that was building a multifloor building, said he couldn't get much work done on Monday because a lot of his workers didn't show up. He was convinced that the lost time could be made up with overtime, putting him back on schedule. Hopefully, he won't have to pay for that overtime, since his employees were the ones that decided not to come to work. Or maybe he could fire them, and hire new employees in their place.

If you're still uncertain about the effect illegals have on our country, check out the information at About.com.

I can relate personally from this. Growing up in Southern California as the citrus industry in the area was starting it's decline, I remember a lot of illegals living in the area. Some would live under the canopy of the orange tree, while they were picking. When they left, they also left their mess - empty cans, bottles, boxes, clothing, and blankets. There is a flood control channel that runs along the back of what was one of my parents' orange groves (recently converted to condo's). Illegals would come across the channel at night, and pick oranges. The next day they would bag them up, and sell them at street corners. Now, you might say, "So what's a few oranges?" Unfortunately, it wasn't just a "few oranges," it was several trees worth. When you make just enough to pay the property taxes and upkeep costs for the groves from the citrus harvested, then every orange is valuable.

The other experience is medical care. I've experienced long wait times in Emergency rooms due to the extra load of illegals seeking "free" medical care. My brother is a doctor in a border town, and he's mentioned that his clinic experiences this problem, and the local hospital's Emergency room wait time is a typical 3 hours. They are inundated with non-citizens crossing the border for medical care. And the hospital is required to provide basic care for everyone, by the Federal government. This requirement should be changed to "anyone in the country legally."

This problem is bigger than the individual, because it affects the entire country. It affects our laws, and bending them is not the answer. These people should be trying to make a change in their home countries, and not attempting to force the U.S. to do their will.

If you want to be a part of this country, there is a legal way to do it. Period. No discussion needed.