I was out of the country for a week with my wife, but when we got back it was like nothing had changed.

The national media were still yakking and arguing about the same BS they were when we left.

Depending on what TV channel you turned on, it was still either all pro-Trump or all anti-Trump, all pro-wall or all anti-wall.

This week Democrats and Republicans in Congress were still fighting over whether the increasing number of illegal immigrants crashing our southern border is a fake crisis or a real national emergency, as President Trump has declared.

And the tear-jerk liberal media are still mostly worried about whether the caravans of illegal immigrant families from Central America seeking asylum are being welcomed warmly and taken care of properly by our government at the border.

But in the country’s great illegal immigration debate, do you know whose needs no one in Washington or in the mainstream media is talking about ?

The immigrants who are already here in America — the legal ones.

Most of these forgotten immigrants are Latino, and millions of them are U.S. citizens or green-card holders with low-skill, low-paying jobs.

I’m talking about the guy who parks my car at my favorite restaurant.

Or the woman who picks the strawberries I had in my cereal this morning.

Or the wonderful man from Guatemala who takes care of my lawn.

As far as I can see, no big shots in Congress or in the media care in the least about how these hardworking people will be hurt by hundreds of thousands of new illegal immigrants storming across our southern border.

The illegal immigrants are not going to take away the jobs of anyone you see on TV or listen to on radio.

They’re not going to take anyone’s high-paying job at Google, Morgan Stanley or in the federal government.

But they will take away the jobs of people who are washing dishes, cleaning houses, cooking food and nannying the kids of the wealthy and powerful.

The working-class immigrants who are already here will be the first ones to lose their jobs or see their hourly wages go down — and they know it.

They’re the ones whose children are in already overcrowded and under-performing public schools in California that will be swamped by more kids who don’t speak English.

No one politically important or powerful is standing up for the country’s forgotten immigrants, and Latinos are afraid to say anything in support of a stronger wall, or in support of President Trump, for fear of being ostracized in their own community.

But the reality is that many legal Latino immigrants, like my gardener, are scared to death of a flood of illegals coming across the border.

The growing popularity of President Trump among the country’s 32 million Latino voters — which was 28 percent in 2016 and has risen to nearly 50 percent according to a recent poll — reflects how strongly many Latinos dislike illegal immigration.

Unfortunately, however, President Trump is not taking political advantage of the real concerns of working-class Latinos.

If I were the president, I’d do what my father would have done – turn the tables on the Democrats, go over the heads of the liberal media and tell the forgotten immigrant story to the whole country.

I’d hold a series of press conferences and photo ops in Latino neighborhoods in California and Texas.

I’d make it clear to Latinos – and every voter in the USA — that Latino American workers will be the primary victims of the Democrats’ irresponsible positions on illegal immigration.

My father and his White House crew would have known how to do it the right way. He was very good at going on TV and telling the country stories.

So is President Trump. And if he’s going to get the Latino votes he’ll need to win reelection in 2020, he’s got make sure that every Latino knows he cares what bad things will happen to them if he loses.

 

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and author. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com.