http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/mexico ... d1aef.html

Scott Stroud: For Mexico's poor, grass is greener on other side of Rio Grande

REYNOSA, Mexico β€” The screeching about the grave threat that amnesty for immigrants poses reached a crescendo as Senate leaders reached an immigration agreement with the Bush administration earlier this month.
The noise died down only a little when the deal fell apart.

My favorite part came after that, in an e-mail about "illegal alien invaders," which conjured up images of little green men. Most of the others adopted a slightly less strident tone.

"What part of illegal don't they understand?" was a common refrain. One diatribe invoked Christians as embattled stalwarts of righteousness, so easy to pick on but dedicated to doing what's right in this and other instances.

As it happened, I was in Reynosa, just across the border from McAllen, while the Senate debate was raging. What I saw there left me thinking both sides have missed an essential point.

In the colonias I visited, only a few of the houses had running water; fewer still had working toilets. The dirt roads were rutted, and electricity to some homes was jury-rigged in a way that wouldn't pass any housing code I've seen.

Government there doesn't seem to do anything well. Garbage is hauled off by horse-drawn cart. Some children attend school, but only if their families can pay $300 for uniforms and books. Most can't.

The poverty there makes San Antonio's poorest neighborhoods look appealing. The government seems too crippled and dysfunctional to offer things we Americans take for granted. The people I asked about it said basic human services are a distant ideal.

Distant, that is, until they cast their eyes across the Rio Grande.

To those asking, "What part of illegal don't you understand?" I'd pose another question: What would inspire you to leave your home and family, swim across a river, walk across a desert and immediately become an outlaw in a country where you hardly know anyone and don't speak the language?

Elias Lee Matter, who volunteers for a program called Faith Ministry, which builds houses, provides medical care and offers scholarships for residents of Reynosa, has seen many leave the colonias.

"They want what's best for their families," he said. "They want the American dream."

The point both sides have missed in the heat of the immigration debate is that any effort to solve the problem in America must address deeper problems south of the border. If it doesn't somehow deal with economic development in Mexico, it likely will fall short.

Measures that don't β€” building a wall, launching a crackdown β€” treat the symptom but not the cause. Anyone desperate enough to emigrate will find a way.

For those who call themselves Christians, though, the principle at work doesn't stop at "What part of illegal don't you understand?" It also extends to "Love your neighbor as yourself."

That means weighing what you would do if your children were born into lives of hopeless squalor that hard work alone couldn't fix.

So if you couldn't feed them or meet their most basic needs, what would you do?

Would you cross that river?