If this had happened in Iraq, it would have been used as evidence of Saddam's evilness

Why aren't things like this all over the news, all the time?

Authorities said 17 people were found dead today in an airless trailer left at a Texas truck stop, and an 18th person died later at a hospital. There had been more than 100 illegal immigrants locked inside the tailer.

In Des Moines, Iowa, last year, the remains of 11 migrants were found inside a box car, dead from dehydration. In Yuma, Ariz., 14 Mexicans died of thirst while wandering in the desert. And in Sierra Blanca, Texas, 18 immigrants died inside a locked boxcar where the temperature rose to 130 degrees.

Living in New Mexico this is an issue that hits particularly close to home. I remember, I used to work at restaurant of particular local fame that employed quite a few illegal Mexican immigrants. They would work the most horrible menial jobs...dishwashing, busing tables, etc, for 70-80 hours a week. I'm not sure what they were making. Hardly any of them spoke a word on English. And once every few month, everyone would have to show up at work brandishing their social security cards and half of the employees would be gone the next day.

I can't imagine what that would be like. So, when I hear complaints that illegal Mexican immigrants are stealing jobs from hard-working Americans, it really pisses me off. I didn't see a whole lot of jobless white people clamoring for the 70 hour a week dishwashing job. And it's not like they weren't always hiring for them. It really makes you appreciate your decadent American lifestyle (and I live in a neighborhood where the dumpster in my apartment complex is set ablaze so often, it's not even an event worth noting anymore) when you hear about people risking their lives for a job like that.

Ezequiel Pena is one of them. He has been here for two months, after leaving Honduras and making a harrowing trip through Mexico. Some of his companions were robbed, he said, and a good friend drowned in the Rio Grande. Even so, he is grateful to be here.

"Necessity made me pack up and come here," he said, adding, "Thank God, your country is here."

What kind of lives are these people fleeing from? It's a country we border, don't you think we would have more information about it than we would about countries in another hemisphere that really didn't involve us at all.