"What are your feelings about illegal immigration from Mexico, Mr. Novitsky?" a reader who has lived in America for over 20 years asked sarcastically. "Judging from your articles, you approve of it.  You must not be aware that Mexicans don't pay taxes and that they take jobs away from Americans, send all their money home and commit crimes in our country."

I hear rebukes like this regularly. Unfortunately, many of our illegalphobes have become accustomed to "diagnosing" Mexicans based on whether or not they have the legal right to be in the United States. If you have a green card, then go ahead, work, earn money, go on welfare, receive pensions, health insurance, Section 8, food stamps, etc.  But if you don't have a green card, you can go off to jail in handcuffs and cry away the time while you wait to be deported.

Not one illegalphobe who I have come into contact with has ever asked the logical question: Why do Mexicans flock to America?

Members of the ultra right wing of the Republican Party, like the blatant racist Tom Tancredo, who proposed long prison sentences for crossing the border with Mexico, are also far from such reasoning.

Avid haters of undocumented immigrants have no idea what the life of the average Mexican is like. They have drawn their conclusions about Mexico during stays at fashionable resorts where the service personnel, consisting of friendly Mexicans, earn $200 to $300 a day. "It's like paradise there," one such traveler assured me. "The ocean, fruit, rich tourists. He gets a dollar for bringing you a bottle of beer. Why the hell do they need to sneak into America?"

Allow me to tell you a little about real life in Mexico, which hundreds of millions of U.S. residents have never seen and will never see.

According to the latest statistics from the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CCIR) and The Hunger Project, 57 percent of Mexicans live below the poverty line and another 28 percent live in extreme poverty. "If you live in a rural area, then you can forget about education, government credit, mortgages and a career," said CCIR member Carlos Pueblo. "These benefits exist only in theory. They are not accessible to 90 percent of residents. People live in dilapidated houses, tend meager farms and try to make ends meet somehow."

The average wage in Mexico is $4 dollars a day. Skeptics believe that this amount is overstated since specialists in the oil industry (who are mostly foreigners) earn between $3,000 and $4,000 per month while residents in rural areas earn 30 to 40 times less. The country basically does not have a middle class. Five percent of residents are rich and 95 percent are poor.

"Even a small thing like buying a new shirt became something of a holiday for everyone in my family," recalled 33-year-old undocumented immigrant Alfredo Rames, a former resident of Irapuato. "After all, Mexicans do not buy more than one or two things a year. T-shirts, shorts, jeans and boots are inherited."

The official unemployment rate is 3.7 percent, but in reality it is more like 25 percent. "We do not like to call ourselves unemployed," said Veronica Zakates, a resident of Tulancingo. "We say that a Mexican who does not do anything has no soul. That's why all my children and grandchildren make and sell souvenirs. We don't have any other work."

It must be said that incredible energy and capability for work are two of the main national characteristics of Mexicans. That is why it is not surprising that upon arriving in America these "short and sturdy fellows" take on the work of three. They just do not have this opportunity in their native country.

"All parents in Mexico dream of sending their children to the United States," said Cynthia Martez, a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ). "Children in Mexico are doomed to an impoverished existence. It is only in American films that poor people become millionaires."

Since sending a Mexican to the United States costs something like $2,000, many parents save for years. "Like all parents, we want happiness for our children," said Luisa Chetto, a resident of Tijuana. "Otherwise they will manufacture and sell drugs, like many local teens. My husband and I will know that we have not lived in vain if our son ends up in America."

Many illegalphobes foam at the mouth with anger when they hear that undocumented immigrants from Mexico send about $18 billion home every year. In my opinion, this just shows that the concepts of "family" and "caring for relatives" are not idle words for millions of Latinos. To a certain extent, I admire these hard-working undocumented immigrants who lose their health on construction sites for $6 dollars an hour, but never forget about their relatives. I am more than convinced that such generosity is foreign to many legal immigrants.

"In Mexico I have a sick father and four sisters, the oldest of whom is only 10," said Raul Ruan, an 18-year-old undocumented immigrant from New Mexico. "I send them $300 every month. This money is enough for medicine and food. My relatives would die from starvation without my help."

I'm sure some readers will ask why Mexicans don't try to enter America legally. I'll answer: for the USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security, Mexico is one of those countries from which immigration, to put it mildly, is not desired. After all, today almost 12 to 15 percent of Mexicans live in the United States.

It is impossible to receive a tourist visa (B1-B2) visa without having a formidable amount of money in the bank. It is very hard to come as a student (J-1) since the organizers of Work & Travel programs take just as much money from applicants as <i>coyotes</i>. What's more, there is virtually no chance of receiving a visa. And you can forget about H-1B visas forever. Not one university in MexicoUnited States needs. prepares specialists in the areas that

"My brother and I were completely aware that we were breaking U.S. laws when we crossed the border," said 20-year-old Victor Santos, a native of Zacatecas. "We knew that we could be arrested and deported. But we had no choice. The prospect of living our entire lives in poverty was not enticing. You can call us criminals, but know that we have never killed, robbed or cheated anybody."

In my opinion, it is inhuman to blame Mexicans for coming to America for a normal life. If the aforementioned Tancredo or any other illegalphobe had been born in a godforsaken Mexican village, they would think differently. Government laws and the Constitution cease to apply when talk is of plain old human happiness.

Additionally, it has been known for some time that the U.S. economy cannot function without the labor of undocumented immigrants. Any small business, be it a produce store, a restaurant or a fast food joint would close if a legal immigrant (with green card or passport) were to demand minimum wage, health insurance or a paid vacation.

Undocumented immigrants from Mexico are the foundation of the entire American economy. They belong to the category of people who do not ask what America can do for them, but are able to say what they have done for America. Mexicans do not lay claim to any social benefits or indulgences. They do not endlessly "milk" the government's budget, hiding behind their age and their inability to work, but sweat to earn every cent. The same cannot be said of us legal immigrants. Therefore, accusing every Mexican of "destroying the American economy" by sending money abroad is unreasoned hairsplitting.

I'll close with a relevant quotation from Francesco Petrarch: "The truly honorable person is not born with a great spirit, but makes one with the greatness of his acts." So, my dear dissenters, all that remains is to do our great acts in order to rid ourselves of feelings of contempt and loathing for those who are not able to reside in the United States legally.

VIDEO :: Chasing the American Dream - A brief look at Mexicans who risk everything for the chance of a better life in the United States.