Immigration a Solution for Social Security? Once again, immigration reform is making headlines. I have a special interest in immigration because my wife is a naturalized US citizen. From Mexico, my wife was one of the lucky ones. Her father was born in the US, but his parents immigrated to Mexico when he was a teenager. As a dual citizen, he was able to get green cards for any of his kids that wanted them.

When my wife first came to the US, she worked in a hospital as a housekeeper. She learned English and managed to get a job as a respiratory technician. Her job was to clean and set up respiratory equipment, a job with a certain amount of responsibility.

After several years, she decided to go to college to become a Respiratory Therapist. Now, many of the folks she worked with at the hospital reacted angrily; how dare she become one of them. She continued to work at the hospital right up until just before her graduation. They laid her off from her job as a respiratory technician, the final message that she was not welcome to work there as one of them.

My wife finished school, studied for the state test and passed it on the first try. She landed her first job as a respiratory therapist and has been a successful therapist for over last ten years.

My wife has never been on welfare, food stamps or Medicare. She pays her bills, and together we've pursued the American dream.

Out there in our beautiful country, there are thousands of immigrants like my wife, some illegal, some working in the fields, some working in restaurants, some riding garbage trucks, many with the capability to take on advance professions that many Americans are unable to obtain or unwilling to make the sacrifices needed. These immigrants form a part of the foundation for a strong, prosperous America in the future.

One might even argue that such immigrants hold the key to the solvency of Social Security. Social Security is in trouble because the baby boomers are aging and there are not enough young Americans to take their place in the workforce and pay into the Social Security system.

Open our arms to immigrants like my wife and the problems plaguing Social Security may be much more manageable. And who knows, you may find yourself in a hospital with an immigrant making your dinner, another cleaning your bed pan, and another keeping you alive as a respiratory therapist.

Magobrillo