Robert Rosas is a name that is sadly unfamiliar to most Americans. It shouldn't be. His tragic story is one of many that represent the "other side" of the illegal immigration "debate" that is routinely avoided by the various anti-enforcement groups and in much of the media.

Rosas, a three-year U.S. Border Patrol agent, was gunned down while on patrol on the U.S.-Mexico border near Campo, Calif., in July. He was tracking suspected illegal border-crossers who were headed north from Mexico looking for a better life when he was killed by multiple gunshots.

In November, Christian Daniel Castro Alvarez admitted entering the United States illegally from Mexico and killing Rosas. Other individuals suspected to be involved in the murder are still at large.

Maybe they made it into the interior of the United States. Maybe they've been rewarded with business licenses. Maybe they've been hired by an employer trying to save a buck or two on labor expenses. Maybe they will be given a traffic ticket for a broken taillight by an American policeman, and then sent on their way.

Maybe you soon will see some of them marching with other illegal aliens in American streets demanding taxpayer-funded health care, "justice," legalization - and U.S. citizenship.

Killed at age 30, Rosas is one of more than 100 Border Patrol agents who have died in the line of duty. He leaves behind a wife, Rosalie, a 2-year-old son, Robert, and a now-1-year-old daughter, Allysa.

Rosas' death should be remembered when we consider a recent Zogby International opinion poll conducted in Mexico on American immigration policy. The survey finds that people in Mexico understand that granting legal status to illegal aliens in the United States would encourage more illegal immigration to the United States. That's what happened with the 1986 legalization scheme.

As the top immigrant-sending country for both legal and illegal immigrants, views on immigration in Mexico provide insight into the impact of another amnesty, as well as other questions related to immigration.

Among the findings taken from a report on the poll from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., is that a "clear majority of people in Mexico, 56 percent, thought giving legal status to illegal immigrants in the United States would make it more likely that people they know would go to the United States illegally. Of Mexicans with a member of their immediate household in the United States, 65 percent said a legalization program would make people they know more likely to go to America illegally."

More from CIS:

► "Interest in going to the United States remains strong even in the current recession, with 36 percent of Mexicans telling Zogby they would move to the United States if they could."

► "An overwhelming majority - 69 percent - of people in Mexico thought that the primary loyalty of Mexican Americans (Mexico- and U.S.-born) should be to Mexico. Just 20 percent said it should be to the United States. The rest were unsure."

Like most Americans, Robert Rosas was sure of his loyalty. He died defending his country. His dedication to duty represents the majority pro-American side of the "immigration debate."

Radical anti-enforcement, amnesty-again groups constantly howl that any local enforcement aimed at illegal aliens who make it past the Border Patrol tears undocumented families apart and makes the community less safe.

They should be reminded of Robert Rosas and his American family.

• D.A. King is a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration and president of the Cobb County-based Dustin Inman Society. Inman died in 2000, at the age of 16, when a car driven by an illegal alien slammed into the car in which he was riding with his mother and father.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Tuesday, December 08, 2009