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It seems as if Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and other hispanics could not be more looked down on in America. Of course, for every race there are the jokes. White, black, hispanic, asian; everyone has jokes made about them. But this is about something a little more serious.

Many times I meet young women who are afraid of Mexican men (I live in the South where predominantly the hispanic immigrants are Mexican. There are others, of course. I myself am part Uruguayan. ).
I always wonder why? They say that they follow them around in grocery stores, and I have to laugh! Men of all races follow attractive girls around at the mall, or wherever in the hopes of getting up the nerve to talk to them. They seem to think that these young men will try to rape them or something! Yet people ignore that most rapists are white males, usually anywhere from teenage years to middle aged years. Many of them are also married with children! (you can find this on almost any website concerning rape and rape statistics in America.) Not that all of them are obviously...

And they could take into account that many young hispanic men come here alone, without their mothers, sisters, girlfriends, etc., live with other young men to save money, and like all young bachelors living together, will sometimes act up.

But the point is that people seem to be afraid of hispanics in general.

"They're taking our jobs!" Usually it's only the ones most Americans don't want to do, like construction! I'm aware that there are hispanics in nicer jobs and I don't want to insult anyone or encourage generalisations - I myself am hispanic! But there are many hispanics in construction because it pays more money than fast food, though it's harder work! Does this make them "dirtier," or "dumber" or "rougher" than people who work in fast food chains for less?

"They're taking our women!" Most white or black women I see with hispanic men were certainly not taken against their own will...

"They're using up our social security and tax money!" Where? You can't get welfare without a social security number and papers. If they have papers, that makes them legal so you'd be complaining about legal immigrants. And as for their children being in public schools and using up tax money, those who are illegal, are you going to tell me you have a problem with any child whose parents want them to be educated? (It's not as if enough money gets donated to education with Bush in Presidency anyway!)

I'd like to go even further. Many Americans seem to have a dislike for illegal hispanic immigrants because they view them as "simple, dirty, uneducated, and poor." Yet they have a lot of compassion for the third world class of African countries. Perhaps because the Africans are not crossing over to America illegally? Yes, I understand that.

But doesn't that show that Americans are perfectly comfortable sending money over, but when it comes down to hosting needy people in our country and letting them into our comfort zone, we get upset and a little bit...selfish?

I'd also like to add that for whatever resources they use up, they more than make up for it with the hard work they do in any field, whether construction, business, art, etc. I have seen personally how hard hispanics work in this country.

Just a collection of thoughts I thought would make an interesting topic for you to discuss.

So, discuss:

Illegal immigrants verses legal immigrants (they're all people who come here for a reason- just some have papers and some don't!)

The way hispanics are viewed versus the way other ethnic groups are viewed.

American fear of immigrants in general. Justified? Or no?

I understand. Many times, there are some illegal immigrants who make the others looks bad (like the one that stole your scooter.) And I understand about them making it hard to find a job. I didn't realize that they often work for less than minimum, though I think I heard that somewhere. That's horrible that they're desperate enough to do that.

I live way up north in Minnesota so its not too often that anything around here happens with illegal immigrants, probably because there are not many people worried about it. If I were to call it a "problem" it would only be a small one here in Minnesota, mostly in the Twin Cities where an occasional mass arrest takes place for that problem.

For my personal opinion I don't think people who decide to illegally access this country are dirty or dumb. In fact they have to be very smart and resourceful to gain access here. Especially if they have migrated from Mexico, the border between the USA and Mexico has its own little army to defend against such things. Its a shame Mexico loses a lot of its most resourceful citizens that way. So to sum it up I think people who access this country illegally are selfish and conniving. Even if someone came to the USA to work here just to send money back to their family that still shows a complete lack of respect for everyone else who immigrated to the USA legally, doing hours of paperwork which may have taken years, learning the english langauge so they could assimiliate to the culture. I do have a low opinion on the ethical choice of choosing to illegally access this country, but sadly people are only able to do so because of corrupt employers. So it is no one side's fault. A lot of people are equally to blame.