Why we need legal immigrants

This morning I was shopping at a small center near Kenney Road and Old Henderson Road, the northern boundary for Upper Arlington, an up-scale suburb of Columbus, Ohio, where I live. As I looked around the stores, I decided over 50% are probably owned by immigrants. There were 4 or 5 hair and nail salons with English names, but Asian writing on the windows; a Turkish bakery; a Thai restaurant; an Indian restaurant; a belly dancing studio; a martial arts studio, a photography studio and some others I couldn't identify.

Owning your own home is not "the American dream," that's shelter and a hole in the financial boat, but owning your own business with the chance to become wealthy or have something to pass on to your children has been a dream of just about every immigrant group that has come by ship or plane, or on foot. I think Americans are sitting on their hands and wallets waiting for the government to do something about the economy, but immigrants are not waiting. They've escaped dictators, Communists, Socialists and anarchists. They've struggled and sacrificed and are willing to work 18 hour days, 7 days a week just for the opportunity to be in business.

I welcome these immigrants to my neighborhood.