I have a good friend who is in this country illegally. He is what is commonly referred to as an illegal immigrant. He and his girlfriend have been here for something like 7-8 years. They just had a baby.

I was really hopeful for awhile that Bush's administration would be able to push their plan for dealing with this whole illegal immigrant issue through Congress. To be truthful, his plan was one of the few things ol' George and I have agreed on in the last 7 years. It wasn't perfect, but it was a plan.

Silly me. I should have known better. The day my friend and I discussed the whole thing I swear I thought he was going to start crying. You see, he hasn't been home since the day he left Guadalajara all those years ago.

I made the mistake of explaining Bush's plan. I made the mistake of explaining that there was a chance he could get a legal avenue to be here. I made the mistake of giving him a ray of hope. I told him I would do whatever I could to help him.

Well, it didn't happen, obviously. I can't do squat to help. In the meantime life goes on. Now there's a baby involved. His parents are trying to get visas to come up here and visit their grandchild, but things move slowly in Mexico. Who knows if or when they will ever get their visas approved.

Now, you can give me the whole jellybean theory that's making the rounds these days on the Internet. You know, how we can't save the world's population, because those ol' jellybeans just keep multiplying. Blah, blah, blah.

You can tell me (although I wish you wouldn't) about how all the illegal immigrants are stealing jobs and ruining the economy. That whole thing is debatable, anyway, so let's just skip it, okay?

You can point out that my friend broke the law by coming here, and therefore he's a criminal. I would agree, then dare you to put yourself in his shoes and honestly tell me you would do anything differently.

If you were to answer that, yes, you would wait for years and years on the chance of getting here legally versus paying a coyote $1,500 to get you to Colorado, I would call you a liar or a fool, your choice.

You can moan about how the banks have all their signs in Spanish, but golly, have you ever been to Cancun, or Cabo? Or Puerto Vallarta, or Ixtapa? Everything there is in English!

It doesn't seem to bother the locals all that much, because they understand something about free enterprise; that if you want to attract a certain clientele, you talk their language. Sorry to put a dent in the ol' conspiracy thing, folks, but it's all about the money.

So now my friend is a Dad. He's a Papa. I ask him how his nina is and he tells me she is beautiful. His English is much better than my Spanish. When he talks about her his eyes light up like any Dad's in the entire Universe.

He has no desire to return to Mexico, except perhaps for a visit. He loves Denver and he loves this country. I have told him to expect to have at least two gringos in tow when he does return for that visit.

We have invited him and his girlfriend to the Homestead for a mini vacation. They are both extremely sleep deprived. You see, they have no family here to help with the baby, and Granny Susan and Papa Mick are champing at the bit to hold and care for their precious little girl for awhile and let them have some rest. We are hoping they take us up on the invitation.

Do we need more secure borders? In my opinion, yes we do. But we also need to deal with all the "illegals" that are here now. I hope that the next administration can get something done, but I have my doubts.

In the meantime, life goes on. My friend is quite aware that his baby has more rights in this country than he does. In the meantime he works his tail off and hopes for the best.

And me? Well, I keep practicing my Spanish (using the signs at the bank for practice) for the day my friend and his girlfriend and Susan and I all visit Guadalajara .

And then come back home to Colorado together. Legally.