I have a story about the difference between those who have come here illegally, and those who came legally.

We know most of our neighbors are here illegally. This recent group of tenants, quieter and less obnoxious than those in the past that have been here, but yet there are those moments.

We had a manager, younger guy, who really did nothing and wound up having to quit (guess the landlord told him he'd had enough of giving free rent for nothing). So, the maintenance man, who my husband and I have gotten to know over the last year and half, is acting as manager. He told us temporarily, but he may have been talked into permanently.

I spent some time talking with this guy, he admitted he had come to AZ illegally when he was young. He then turned his life around and decided to take care of that, and got his green card. He is beyond a nice guy, he reminds me 100% in personality of one of my brothers (besides his name in Spanish IS my brothers name..).

His first tough job here was to evict gang members ! They left graffiti ALL over the complex. He gave them the shortest notice allowable by law. He did not do the "you're Latino, I'm Latino" thing and play nice and give warning after warning, no, he kicked them out.

Yesterday, I came home from some errands and found him there with all manner of stuff out in the old grassy, but empty, play area. He was building a swingset from pressure treated wood, and burying tires for the kids to climb on. By the time he was done lastnight, he has three large tires in the ground, a whole swingset (swings and a tire swing), plus had an older metal set fixed up, secured and working for the kids. One other guy was out there helping him.

My husband was impressed, as was I. He took out two Cokes for them and began talking to the manager, thanking him for his hard work for these kids. My husband found out that the new manager had talked the landlord into the playset upon the managers pleas that the kids around here make trouble (destroy things, write on walls, etc..) because they have nothing to do. He then agreed, but the landlord was not the one to fully fund this, the manager put money out of his pocket for it too!!!

All the while, the parents who were benefiting from this for their kids sake (our kids are grown beyond this stage) did not thank him, nor did they offer him any kind of show of gratitude.

I am impressed, as the difference between these two groups, the ones who are here legally, and those who are not, is very evident. Those who come here not only claim to come for a better life, they truly emulate that in their actions, and in the process try to make other peoples lives better (my husband legal co-worker is this way too), those here illegally have the mindset of entitlement and a pure lack of gratefullness...

Let's make sure our attitudes about this issue is simply only about illegal versus legal, not about ethnicity or race, this could hurt and run out those who came here legally, like this man. America needs him and those like him. These people ARE the immigrants the left tries to potray the illegals like, but they are not, there is such a difference.