Instead of pouring our resources into a big wall or debating the pros and cons of amnesty, how about an immigration solution where everybody wins?

Just as 100 years ago, most immigrants come here today because of the crushing poverty and unemployment back home. What if they had the skills and opportunities for them to support their families without breaking up the family? If a farmer can feed his family, he won't leave them.

If a mother can buy medicine for her kids when they're sick, she won't leave them for their grandparents to raise.

If college graduates can get jobs as professionals close to home, they won't risk their lives crossing hundreds of miles of desert to pick tomatoes or shingle roofs.

When we put our energy into helping people become self-sufficient, we can measure our success by intact families and reduced poverty instead of deportations.

What can you do?

• Learn: read about and visit communities, like Ciudad Romero in El Salvador, that produce grassroots solutions
• Advocate: contact your US Representatives and Senators to demand a foreign policy that creates dignified jobs
• Support Sustainable Development and Self-Sufficiency:

Foundation for Self-Sufficiency in Central America
314 E Highland Mall Blvd., Ste 208, Austin, TX 78752
512-388-7957; fax 512-371-7472; www.fssca.net