The Other Side of the Tracks Is For Lawncare

At the Matawan train station, I see the immigrants hopping into lawn care trucks every morning and I wonder at their lives. We're all dressed up and heading to jobs in the big city, and they're dressed in t shirts and jeans heading out to our yards to cut the grass and trim the bushes. We gawk at each other across the tracks, much like we do when we pass on the streets.

Last week, NPR did a review of A Better Life, a movie about the teenaged son of an illegal immigrant in Los Angeles. The boy thought his father was a chump and a sellout for tending a rich man's garden, and the father couldn't tell his son to do the right thing and steer clear of city gangs because the father was breaking the law every day just living in the US. The movie reminded me of my fear for our region and the children of the many undocumented immigrants in our community and where they are heading.

And then I saw this video (below) tonight by Jose Antonio Vargas, who overcame his legacy as the child of an illegal migrant worker through the help of others, his personal underground railroad. He didn't know he was an illegal until he went to get his driver's license. But his future was tied up in the lie. Mr Vargas, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, says it is time to have a discussion about immigration. His video and more can be seen at DefineAmerican.com.