THE GREAT DIVIDE: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON ONE DAY : RETIRED ENGINEER

NAME: Jesse Laguna

AGE: 64

WORK: Retired engineer

HOME: San Ysidro

IMMIGRATION STATUS: U.S. citizen. Born in Texas; his mother was Mexican American, his father emigrated from Spain.

“I am a Mexican-American and I fought two wars for this country, a long time ago when we tried to get a piece of the American dream.

“Most of the community-based organizations which were created to help Mexican Americans have become migrant rights organizations. The new waves of illegal immigrants keep coming and depressing the wages of the legal immigrants. Our country is doing more for the foreigners than for its own citizens.

“Our kids get shortchanged with bilingual education. Neither the Spanish-speaking kids or the English-speaking kids are getting a good education. No one really wins. Millions and millions of dollars are going to help (illegal) immigrants and do nothing to help Mexican Americans.”