Here's a fascinating story from The Wall Street Journal: "Despite the downturn of the mortgage market, a type of home loan has remained surprisingly sturdy: one extended to illegal immigrants....For loans more than 90 days in arrears, ITIN mortgages have a delinquency rate of about 0.5%, according to independent estimates. That compares with 1% for prime mortgages and 9.3% for subprime mortgages extended to those with spotty credit histories."

The Journal talks about the possibility of a weakening in this lost stronghold but there's another interesting story here: If these immigrants can pay their mortgages, why can't other people? Part of the reason could be that these mortgages are evaluated using different, more stringent metrics.

But I also wonder if too many Americans have just lost the sense of pride and commitment to keep their homes. If illegal immigrants can keep their homes, while they send money to families abroad and face tough job conditions, why can't Americans?

If immigrants can keep up with their mortgages, does it really make sense for Congress to push for bailouts for homeowners who are falling behind?

For those still fuming over Pizza Patron's "Pizza for Pesos" program, the fun continues. The Dallas-based chain, which had drawn the ire of an untold number of currency purists, announced that its policy would become permanent.

In early January, Pizza Patron -- with 60 stores spread across Texas, Arizona and Colorado -- began a two-month trial period during which they accepted Mexican currency at 12 per U.S. dollar (the current rate being approximately 11 to 1) to honor their Hispanic patrons, which they claim account for 60% of their business.

What resulted exactly from this progressive and inclusive policy? People pretty much lost their cool.

The restaurant reported a deluge of critical e-mails, including death threats, and inadvertently threw their hat into the hostile immigration debate. "This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico," one critical e-mail read. "Quit catering to the damn illegal Mexicans," demanded another.

While most businesses along the Mexican and Canadian borders welcome foreign currencies as a courtesy, Pizza Patron's restaurants stretch as far away as Denver, intensifying the debate. Said Patricia Perez, a partner at L.A. public relations firm Valencia, Perez & Echeveste, "Right now there's a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric going around that could make them a lightning rod."

From an undisclosed location, Pizza Patron founder and CEO Antonio Swad (who, incidentally, is Italian/Lebanese) said in a statement, "What the pesos for pizza program is intended to do is reinforce our brand promise - as the premier U.S. Latino brand.... We have carved this niche in the pizza industry to compete and serve an underserved market - the Latino customer, not to make any political statement."

B. Brandon Barker is the author of the novel Operation EMU.