As a long-time Summit County resident I have supported the Adopt-An-Angel holiday toy drive for several years now. Again this year I bought a couple of toys to drop off at a collection point. Being an absent-minded procrastinator, I realized that the day before the event the toys were still in the trunk of my car. No problem I thought, I will just drop them off first thing in the morning. That's when I was surprised to see a lineup of nearly 200 people that appeared to be 98+ percent of Latino origin. As I made my way to the head of the line to drop off my bag, I wondered if the program only served Latino immigrants, or was it designed to help others in need, but for some reason only Latinos showed up? Curiosity got the best of me and I struck up a conversation with a young woman near the head of the line. Her English was better than my Spanish, but we managed a short conversation. She was an illegal immigrant from a town near Monterey, Mexico. Apparently she crossed the border illegally in May to be with her boyfriend, who is also here illegally and lives in Dillon. She looked to be about 6 months pregnant and indicated that she was excited to get the free toys for when her baby was born. I have no idea how many other illegal immigrants were standing in line, but by all appearances the answer was many.

I guess as I supported the Adopt-An-Angel program in the past I had a false picture in my mind of a diverse group of legal, law-abiding Summit County residents that needed a hand up during the holidays. Who wouldn't support that? What I unexpectedly observed was something different. It triggered an unresolved debate in my mind: Should we as a community be incentivizing illegal behavior by allowing those who violate state and federal immigration laws to drain the generosity of Summit County residents and taxpayers? Can't we limit the taxpayer drain by illegal immigrants to free health care at the Community Care Clinic and the WIC (women, infant, children) welfare program that are both already oversubscribed by illegals? Or do we as a community need to throw in free toys at Christmas? It seems to me that the case for immigration reform is weakened when illegal arrivals drain resources in Summit County as compensation for failed governments across Latin America.

Adding to my internal debate was the sight of several recipients carrying enormous black plastic lawn and garden bags stuffed with toys to the parking lot. How many children did they have, anyway? One woman could not even fit her haul into her four-door sedan. It seemed somewhere the emphasis had shifted from helping the needy to being taken advantage of by the greedy. On the other hand, it's the holidays, and perhaps legal status should be ignored under the same logic that we as a society offer Christmas dinner with all the trimmings to convicts in prison. I'm not sure.

In the end, I gave my bag with two toys to the young woman I was talking to and left. Still not sure if I did the right thing. I do hope next year's Adopt-An-Angel program can be improved and restricted to only those truly in need; and restricted to those that obey immigration laws. I would be interested to know the opinions of other SDN readers.