THE inscription on one of the stone tablets held by the Statue of Liberty reads:

In a sense, this has always been the secular creed of the United States of America, a country founded by immigrants and, for the most part, always welcoming of new immigrants.

But in recent times has this open-door policy come to an end? One could easily come to such a conclusion given the unprecedented nation wide demonstrations carried out by those who are now termed "undocumented" immigrants ? that is, so-called illegal migrants, now estimated to be some 12 million strong, working without proper Immigration & Naturalisation Service accreditation in America.

I have a great aunt now in her late 80s, who emigrated to America in the early 1950s and settled in the East Coast city of Philadelphia. For most of my family, myself included, this was the first place in the United States we visited for holidays, for schooling, for medical reasons and for other reasons.

Today I have a brother and sister who live in America and also a daughter and granddaughter, along with my American son-in-law and many extended family members who are born Americans in their own right.

My story is not unique. There are many such family connections held by Bermudians.

In fact, it would not be so far-fetched to state that in regard to born Bermudians and their foreign family links, then most are with the US and the largest expatriate Bermudian community certainly lives in America.

That is the same impact that America has had on a global basis. In fact, this is what has made America a great nation, because it has always been able to attract the best and the brightest and the most hard-working and ambitious to its shores. America has always been proud to boast that it is a land of immigrants.

But today who has a right to be in America has become a hot political issue. America has become more conscious of the need to protect its borders as a matter of urgency since the terrorist attacks on America on 9/11.

America always assumed it was immune from such attacks given the country is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean in the East, the Pacific in the West. But the bloody events of that day jolted the United States into an awareness of just how porous its borders are, with its long, undefended boundaries with Canada in the north and Mexico in the south.

This concern with the protection of America's borders is currently focussed on the borders between Mexico and the southwestern states of the US. This is the area where thousands of illegal immigrants make the attempt to cross the border to get into the United States to find work because of the crushing poverty and lack of opportunity in some regions of their native Mexico.

Here is where this whole issue becomes complicated, for as much as some Americans have become concerned about the flood of people crossing its borders, America actually needs their labour ? for without it some of America's important industries would grind to an halt.

This is certainly true of its agricultural sector, which is worth billions of dollars to the US in terms of exports while also allowing America to feed itself. The hands that pick America's agricultural bounty are largely the hands of foreign workers, many whom fall into the "illegal" category.

They also work in America's factories, in her hotels and restaurants and in a great variety of small businesses which depend on their labour and who would not be in existence if there were no such low-cost labour available.

There is also the question of ethnocentricity involved here, although many Americans are loath to admit this fact.

Millions of immigrants came over from Europe in the 19th century and, it must be stated, they faced initial hostility and discrimination from born white Americans. But they soon became part of the American nation, at least by the second generation, because of the melting pot nature of US society.

The same, of course, did not apply to the generations of African-Americans, whose ancestors had been brought to America as slaves. And even though they had been in America longer than the European immigrants who came over in waves throughout the 19th century, they nevertheless did not enjoy full American civil and human rights until the aftermath of the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s and '70s (and some, despite the many advances made in the area of civil rights for African-Americans, consider this is still a task that has yet to be completed).

But the question of race, although not admitted up front, is a factor in the ongoing debate about America tightening its borders and the question of illegal migrants.

There are many foreign nationals from many parts of the world who are living in America and working illegally but the focus is now on the Hispanic population for two key reasons. One is because the majority of illegal migrants attempting to cross America's borders in the southwest are coming from Mexico and, secondly, the Hispanic population is now America's largest minority and, in some south western states, they may, in fact, form majorities of the population.

An Hispanic is a person who first speaks Spanish and is of either Spanish or Spanish/Indian descent. Sometimes the racial mix is of Spanish, Indian and African descent, almost creating a new race so to speak.

Interestingly, while most Americans may believe that the rise in the Hispanic population is due to the rise of illegal migrants who may happen to be Hispanic, America, in fact, inherited much of its Hispanic population when it appropriated what was Mexican land in the Mexican-American war of 1846-48 War.

Those lands included, of course, Texas, much of California, Colorado and Arizona and what became known as New Mexico. Mexico lost its territories, but the Hispanic populations remained in those territories and has continued to grow.

With the politicians dragging their feet, with the proprietors of vast agriculture concerns and small business owners forming unlikely alliances with immigrant rights activists, the question of illegal migrants has yet to be solved.

It is likely to be a continuing political and human rights issue for some time to come.