"Although I am perfectly aware that only a person lacking in sensitivity would compare the problem of living in a place that offered a narrow range of truly interesting restaurants with the problem of involuntary servitude, I have to say that some serious eaters think of the Immigration Act of 1965 as their very own Emancipation Proclamation."
--Calvin Trillin

This afternoon, I stopped by my local Pollo Campero and ate a chicken bowl (fried chicken, beans, rice, peas, cilantro, chile verde and fresh salsa) and washed it down with a tamarindo drink. The folks at the counter greet you in Spanish, though they speak English just fine. The menu is in English, though you might have to read closely that some of their fries are made of yuca root.

Pollo Campero was started by a group of Guatemalan businessmen back in 1971. The chain slowly grew until 1994, when its owners decided to go global. Now there are Pollo Campero restaurants in 11 countries, including Spain, Indonesia and China. There are almost 40 restaurants in the U.S. Most of them are in California, but there are six in the D.C. area, including three fairly close to my house.

The food is probably not considerably better for you than that purveyed by the Colonel, but I like the sides much better. And that chicken bowl is one sweet concoction, even if it likely is something of an imitation of a similar KFC dish.

What I really like about Pollo Campero is the attention to detail. The restaurants are clean--in a part of town where McDonald's and Taco Bell have a real problem convincing their employees to do the same for their restaurants. The salsa table (which has salad dressing style service of eight different sauces available for my enjoyment) was wiped clean twice today while I was eating--I know because I always like to eat close to the salsa table. The cashiers are helpful and are willing and able to answer questions about the menu and the food coming out. I've eaten at two Pollo Campero restaurants and (reluctantly) walked past a third, and the places have always seemed friendly to me.

In short, Pollo Campero would appear to be an immigration success story. The restaurant brought along a lot of its native culture (fried plantain and yuca, for example) and then assimilated into America (the chicken bowl). The restaurants I've seen are run with an efficiency that would be the envy of most American fast food joints, which only makes sense, as the owners of these particular restaurants are almost certainly American franchisees.

But after reading the transcripts, I'm wondering if most Republicans favor any sort of immigration at all. Tom Tancredo, the dingbat congressman from Colorado doesn't. Here's a snippet of his wisdom: "I'm not going to aid any more immigration into this country." Period. Tancredo is in favor of freezing the borders and not allowing anyone else in. He said that immigration "makes it difficult for us to assimilate." Oh, and it steals jobs.

I'm not sure who the "us" is, as I'm guessing that Tancredo thinks that he and his fellow Republicans have assimilated pretty well. Whatever. And while it is true that immigration probably does take jobs, it also creates many more.

Tancredo, though, has staked his campaign on this "Katie, bar the door" policy. He's something of a nut on the question. Where do the other Republicans stand?

Well, John McCain and Mike Huckabee are unapologetic about their support for some form of the immigration reform bill that failed earlier this year. The red meat brigade is having a field day with them.

Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney used to be in favor of relatively progressive immigration reform. Not anymore. They spent a good portion of the debate yelling at each other and accusing each other of coddling illegal immigrants. This isn't simply hypocritical, it's stupid.

But then, we're talking about the two most self-absorbed guys in the GOP race. Here's my favorite Romney bit, an aside while he was attacking Huckabee for daring to assert that illegal immigrants are people. "I respect the fact that you worked your way through college. That's the way you are. That's wonderful."

That's the way you are? Jesus Cristo, man. Talk about entitlement and a complete detachment from reality. Most of the people in this country who finish college graduate with debts, and most people don't even finish college. If you're lucky enough to have enough money from your parents to pay for school, don't dismiss the accomplishment of those who worked up to 40 hours a week or more while taking classes. I worked 20-30 hours a week for a couple of my years in school, and my grades suffered. One class I had to choose between my job--which I needed--and an extra-curricular assignment for a class. No sympathy from the professor, of course. I chose the job and still managed to pass the class. But that sort of arrogance is unacceptable.

Sorry. That one's a sore point for me. As for the immigration beliefs of the other Republican candidates, all of them are almost freakishly anti-immigrant. Fred Thompson is somewhat milder in his opposition, but not much. Duncan Hunter (a congressman from San Diego) pledged to completely fence off Mexico in six months. I'm guessing he hasn't walked very far east of San Diego to understand how futile that would be. Ron Paul is anti-everything when it comes to government. He seems to believe that those now in power are planning some sort of North American Union that would make Canadians and--the horror!--Mexicans essentially citizens of the U.S. I think he and Dennis Kucinich are by far the most interesting candidates, but they're just a little wacky.

The next time any of these guys get back to D.C., they ought to take the Green Line on the Metro up to Columbia Heights and stop in at one of the newest Pollo Campero restaurants. If they manage to pound a chicken bowl (or, hell, just some chicken), they'll walk away understanding how immigrants and the process of immigration makes our nation richer, stronger and, yes, better-fed.

Jon Worley is proud that his beloved Missouri Tigers followed the tradition of a plethora of #1 teams this season, losing to Oklahoma 38-17 as soon as they scored the top ranking. College football is nothing without tradition.