The new "New Colossus"

Today’s illegally huddled masses still yearn to breathe free | John Dawson

DALLAS — What's odd about the man wearing a "Bourbon Street University" T-shirt is that he doesn't even drink. His co-workers at a small screen-printing company in Dallas describe him as clean and quiet, a man who doesn't waste time or money on drugs or alcohol. Sure, he cashes his checks at the Lone Star Liquor store down the street, but most of the cash goes back to Mexico to pay for his 21-year-old daughter's education and food for his 19-year-old son.

Armando Gonzalez, 43, is an illegal immigrant. He's not afraid to describe, in quiet, assured tones, how he waded across the Rio Grande nearly naked on Sept. 15, 1999, and waited until the Border Patrol wasn't looking. How he sprinted into the border city of Laredo, Texas, and hid in a local restaurant. How he jumped on a Greyhound bus headed from Laredo to Dallas and had a woman with sharp fingernails scrape his face over and over. (He needed what looked like a scar on his cheek to match the "distinguishing characteristics" item on his stolen passport.)