I have a confession to make. I am not your typical humble Mexican. If there’s one thing that my people excel at, it’s humility. We own that game. As I’ve often said, if there was such thing as a humility, Olympics, the Mexicans would show up and win all the medals. It’s no wonder that all through the 50s, 60s and 70s, the most popular racist stereotype for Mexicans was of a guy sleeping under a cactus, looking down with his sombrero draped over his eyes. You don’t get any more submissive or humble than that. But to quote the Prophet Bob Dylan, that ain’t me, babe, you’ve never seen in all your days a Mexican who loves himself this much. In fact, this observation has my whole life fueled speculation by family and friends that I was actually switched at birth, having been snatched away from a nice Cuban couple and given to the Mexicans who kindly raised me as one of their own all through high school in my hometown in central California, I was used to being the smartest person in the classroom, and often that include the teacher that feeling ended in college. Of course, still, now in my 50s, I know a lot about smarts and skill sets enough to know that I don’t know much about either one. For instance, in my line of work as a journalist, I run across my fair share of people who are so over educated that they’ve gone right past smart to super smart and all the way to stupid. You see, I cover politicians for a living. A lot of them have gold plated Ivy League resumes, and yet they’re dumber than a box of rocks. Why? Because most of the time, politics has short circuited their wits. They’re accustomed to having to see only half the picture and use only half their brains. For instance, I remember hearing Senator Ted Cruz, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and a friend of mine for more than 20 years, argue in 2015 that local county clerks in Texas had the right to deny marriage licenses to same sex couples. See The Constitution says otherwise, or do they not teach that anymore at Harvard Law School. Of course, ignorance is a bipartisan affliction. Always has been. And I also remember when former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who graduated from Wellesley College and Yale Law School, tried to make the argument in 2014 that migrants seeking refugee status could be turned around at the US Mexico border without so much as a hearing, if it were politically convenient for the Obama administration, see both US federal law and international law say otherwise, which I guess they also don’t teach at Yale Law School. So I’m dubious of what it means to be considered smart. The same goes for people who are thought to be, quote, skilled. Some of the most skilled people I’ve ever seen aren’t software engineers or computer programmers. They’re farm workers. These essential workers can clear a row of lettuce or asparagus at lightning speed. I’ve seen with my own eyes avocado pickers gently pluck the fruit off branches, leaning backward because avocado trees are planted on a slope, all while standing on ladders 12 feet off the ground. Come on, let’s see a Harvard graduate do that. Here’s one Harvard graduate who wouldn’t last 30 minutes in the fields where, from the 1920s to the 1960s my hard working grandparents were considered rock stars. This all comes to mind when I hear people claim that the US immigration system admits the wrong people. We need to bring in high skilled immigrants. They say, you know, smart people with PhDs bring us more of those this crowd wants to make getting into America like getting into the Ivy League, sure. Good plan. What could possibly go wrong with that approach? You?