¡VIVA McCAIN!

This week marks the national holidays in Mexico and across the nations of Central America. As a Hispanic American, I feel honor-bound to write about Sen. McCain's "maverick" record on immigration issues, despite the fact that I know a lot of fellow conservatives have very strong, and contrary, feelings about the issue. We Latinos think about illegal immigration in the same way that most Americans think about gay rights. Many Americans have a relative, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, someone in their child's school, who is gay. So they see gay rights as a social issue, not strictly as a law enforcement issue. The same way, many Latinos know someone who is illegal, so we tend to see the question more softly than others. John McCain has been able to find a soft spot in his heart for people facing hardships who come to this country seeking a better life and has attempted to overhaul the nation's immigration laws in a ways that seek to secure the borders AND to provide a path to citizenship to the most deserving immigrants who would otherwise not have such an avenue.

John McCain is one of the few national leaders who has recognized the military service and sacrifice of Latino veterans. In fact, Latino immigrants were among the earliest casualties of the Iraq war when it was launched in 2003. An uncomfortable but important fact is that the first service member killed in Iraq was an illegal immigrant. Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, who immigrated illegally from Guatemala at age 14 was only granted U.S. citizenship post-humously, after he had died for his adopted country. "The next time you're in Washington, D.C.,and go to the Vietnam War Memorial" McCain says in an ad directed at the Hispanic community, "look at the names engraved on black granite. You'll find a whole lot of Hispanic names," McCain says. "When you go to Iraq or Afghanistan today, you're going to see a whole lot of people who are of Hispanic background. You're even going to meet some of the few thousand that are still green card holders who are not even citizens of this country, who love this country so much that they're willing to risk their lives in its service in order to accelerate their path to citizenship and enjoy the bountiful blessed nation."

According to G.O.P. Texas delegate Luis de la Garza, "No politician or candidate understands the needs of the Latino community better than McCain. That's why he's committed himself not just to naturalizing 12 million undocumented immigrants but also to providing the tools Latinos need to get ahead in all aspects of life in this country." The Latino community more than almost any other demographic in American politics, emboddies Republican values. I wonder who would be most flabbergasted to hear me say that -- Latinos or Republicans! Latinos are conservative by culture. Because of the deep influence of Catholicism, the prevalent opinion is pro-life. They tend to define marriage as the monogamous, life-long union between a man and a woman. My in-laws, who call themselves Democrats, meet all of this description, and even are pro death-penalty! Most important of all, Latinos are hard workers. Despite painful sterotypes of people coming across the border for social benefits, most of the Latinos I know work staggering hours and do the most thankful jobs. My mother, for example, raised me and my brother while she worked three jobs: two of them full time. One of them was as a housekeeper ("Cleaning toilets," as she would say, without shame. There is no shame in being a hard worker.) She also is a life-long Democrat, but she never went on welfare -- even when she could not pay the rent, and the three of us were homeless for a few months.

Like her, most Latinos are Democrats just out of habit. Everyone expects us to. I remember when I was applying to go to school at Columbia University, a college scout came to interview me at home. At the time, my family and I lived in a very run-down public housing project in New York's inner city. It was a crime-ridden neighborhood, in the 1980s. The scout, a product of the East Coast liberal elite, could not believe I liked Ronald Reagan! I said something to him along the lines of what Mike Huckabee would say at this year's G.O.P. convention: "I'm not a Republican because I'm rich, I'm a Republican because I don't want to be poor waiting for the Government to rescue me." His words could very well be the motto for the nation's Hispanics. In my view, the Hispanic community would be foolish to neglect the Republican Party, and the Republican Party would be foolish to neglect the Hispanic Community.