In the elevator going up to a forum on immigration reform hosted by the local newspaper, the News-Press, two couples in their 50s nodded approvingly at each other's T-shirt messages: SIIM: Stop Illegal Immigration Now!

"I won a Purple Heart, " one of the men muttered. "People died around me to protect America from this."

"This, " according to a man of the same age, being interviewed for a TV station a few feet away, is the immigration of muchneeded workers. "Southwest Florida needs these people just as much as they need us, " the pro-immigration man told the reporter. "We need them on our construction sites, in our restaurants. We need them working on our golf courses.

Why are we suddenly afraid of them?"

Immigration reform has suddenly become a big issue in the US. A hugely divisive issue, with liberals claiming the measures currently being addressed by the House of Representatives are pointlessly draconian, others viewing the proposals as the erection of a wall which is vital if the nation is not to be inundated with undereducated, undocumented and uninsured immigrants.

Somewhere between the two polarised viewpoints is the reality, which is that, without illegal aliens, the US economy would grind to a halt. Indeed, when thousands of them walked off the job in Easter week to join protest marches seeking amnesty for long-stay illegals, many businesses in SW Florida, ranging from restaurants to construction sites, did grind to a halt.

The workers from Mexico, Guatamala, Haiti and other Central and South American countries who are the dishwashers, the cleaners, the labourers and the golf course maintenance crews in the area, demonstrated, in one day, how essential they are. They also demonstrated how powerless and endangered they are, even when compared with the current generation of Irish illegals. The Irish illegal, typically, is well-educated, speaks English and works in a white collar, well-paid job.

He or she may be unhappy at being undocumented, but few, if any, of them suffered as a result of taking part in the protests.

It wasn't like that for the Hispanics. In Fort Myers, dozens of restaurateurs fired employees who took the day off, furious at losing business in one of the most profitable holiday weeks because of the actions of their least-skilled employees.

The construction industry felt the pain of the protest, too, but reacted in a markedly different way. One of the biggest roofing corporations in the US, heavily committed to Florida because of the housing boom in that state, shut down for the day, its sub-contractors actively encouraging illegals, who represent 70% of their workforce, to take part in the march; roofing bosses want the continuity provided by workers who gain skills and stay on the job.

The protesters achieved massive coverage for their plight. They also generated a backlash which clearly cowed the organisers into cancelling planned further action.

Some of the backlash was evident on the day of the march itself. T-shirt vendors did a roaring trade. The slogan of the march was 'We Can!' (Meaning: We can be full contributory Americans. ) The T-shirts yelled back 'No, you Can't!' Other slogans included 'OK, you're here, now speak English'.

Just as a slice of the Irish population believes a tsunami of potential immigrants is heading for Ireland to wallow in welfare benefits, so a slice of the older population in Florida resents taxpayers' dollars going towards healthcare for uninsured immigrants.

But it's not just US citizens who were enraged by the calls for amnesty for illegals. Recent legal immigrants pointed out that they had waited in countries of origin such as India for five years before getting Green Cards. It would, they believe, be a grievous injustice to the law-abiding to provide an amnesty to immigrants who had merely proved their capacity to break the law and not get caught "We shouldn't reward people-smugglers and their customers with amnesty and citizenship for the same reason we don't bestow pharmacy licenses on drug dealers and free cars to auto thieves, " was a standard observation.

The proposals for immigration reform couldn't go far enough for some attending the forum. They wanted employers of illegals obligated to inform on them, heavy fines for the undocumented, and illegal immigration made a crime, with jail time attached and immigration status checks to be a routine part of every traffic cops' encounter with a driver.

They didn't want to know about how dependent their area is on illegals. Cutting off nose to spite face comes to mind.