[This just shows that immigration affects everyone and it does not make you racist by speaking out against it-ed]

Rosanna Pulido is proud of her Mexican heritage.

So proud that she has committed herself to championing the rights of Mexicans and other immigrants who, like her parents, came to this country to live the American dream. Legally, that is.

Pulido actively fights illegal immigration — in 2005 she founded the Illinois Minuteman Project, a civilian border patrol group that works against illegal immigration, and she believes illegal immigrants dilute opportunities for those who arrive legally.

Because of that, she has been painted a traitor to her people, bombarded with nasty e-mail and threatened with bodily harm.

But that hasn’t dissuaded Pulido, 50, a resident of Chicago’s North Center community, and she’s ready to take on a new role.

She’s the new Illinois chapter leader of You Don’t Speak For Me, a Washington, D.C.-based organization made up of U.S.-born Hispanics and legal Hispanic immigrants who believe illegal immigrants — and politicians eager to pander to special interest groups — are cheating hard-working, legal immigrants and U.S. citizens by diverting already-scarce resources.

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