Look at the Chicago area. Cook County, Illinois, now has more Latinos than Arizona, New Mexico or Colorado.

These are micro-entrepreneurs. . . . With the economy slowing down, when regular jobs shrink, people turn to starting their own business. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but you can't accept these uncritically.

Legal or illegal, advertisers still think they have to buy toothpaste in the morning,

I think it's a watershed moment.

Politics, for most Americans, is not an everyday-life issue. It is not something that affects you personally. That is why these demonstrations are so interesting, because what it shows is that immigration is not an academic issue; it is a genuine issue on the Hispanic immigrant side. You are talking about your friends, relatives, neighbors.

That doesn't surprise me. These are businesses catering to the new ethnic enclaves.