Reply #197: I saw a little taste of it myself.

[backscatter712]

I went on vacation in Cancun, but did take a side-trip to Chichen Itza (the Mayan city and pyramid) and we got bussed through some of the non-touristy parts of Mexico.

It was just a few glimpses, and signs here and there. You'd probably tell me that I didn't see enough, and you'd be right. I saw lots of kids trying to sell trinkets at Chitzen Itza, I saw some shanties. It was fairly soon after a hurricane, so I saw a lot of hurricane damaged buildings that were just abandoned - a lot of people didn't have the means to rebuild. There is a tremendous amount of poverty in Mexico, and most of the rest of the world.

Oh, I should probably mention. Lots of people here make the assumption that all the "illegals" here in the U.S. are Mexican. Certainly, a lot of them are, but far from all of them - illegal immigrants come from all over the world.