Red, White and...Green??

Sorry amigos, try again.

I'm not sure how much you all are paying attention to the immigration reform protests around the U.S., but I'm personally growing a bit tired of it.

I keep seeing footage of streets FILLED with people protesting the United States' decision to re-evaluate our immigration and border policies. Millions of people in Arizona, Colorado, California and other states with a large hispanic population have taken to the streets to voice their opinion.

I have no problem with that. As a matter of fact, I think voicing your opinion is a good thing. Especially when it is done peacefully. I haven't heard of any violence during these demonstrations, by the way. That should be commended.

I personally think your voice should be heard at the voting booth though. That's the only place it's going to count. Of course, you must be a CITIZEN to vote. So therein lies the problem.

The thing that's gotten my goat this week though, is the fact that I keep seeing these protestors flying the Mexican flag. I've even read stories about American high schools in Texas (predominantly hispanic) flying the Mexican flag on the flagpole next to the U.S. and Texas flags.

Doesn't that kind of make the argument against the illegals even stronger? They show no allegiance to this country at all. Their allegiance is to Mexico. How dare you come here and insist on flying another country's flag? The whole idea of immigration is to become part of the society that you're entering into.

We've got many immigrants in the U.S. from many different countries. We don't fly Irish flags and British Flags and Pakistani flags at our schools if there is a large population of those ethnicities there. THIS IS AMERICA. We fly the AMERICAN FLAG. Have some respect for this country if you insist on coming here to enjoy our freedoms and lifestyle. I don't think it's fair for them to come here illegally, make more money than they've ever made before, send it home to their families, and then have the nerve to fly another country's flag. Immigration should include the idea of assimilation, not separatism. If you like your country's customs and flags so much, then maybe you should just stay there.

Conversely, if you want to immigrate here...just do it according to the rules. There's a process to follow. Do it legally. Learn our language. Learn our history. Learn our customs. And learn to love OUR flag. You can't have it both ways. Either you like it here and want to be one of us, or you don't. It's not fair to think that you're going to transform this country into another version of yours. You can't enjoy the benefits here and spit in the face of the U.S. every chance you get.

I would never move to another country and expect them to adapt to my American lifestyle and speak my language. I would make every effort to learn theirs and integrate myself into their world. To do otherwise would just be rude. I certainly would never insist on them flying the flag of my home country. I know that other countries would not tolerate that anyway (nor should they). We shouldn't either.

I have no problem with people coming here. They just need to do it correctly. This massive, undocumented influx is a huge problem. Hopefully, we can find a way to plug the gaps in our borders and then work on getting these illegals documented (and deported or jailed if they're criminals).

Obviously, you like our country so much that you jump fences, cross hot deserts and swim through rivers to get here. It's obviously a much better place than your country, or else everybody wouldn't want to come here so bad. Respect it like you should. Our flag is RED, WHITE and BLUE. Deal with it or get the hell out. Thank you.