Thread: Immigration ire unites Mexicans, Mexican Americans

Immigration ire unites Mexicans, Mexican Americans

By Ruben Navarrette Jr.

PHOENIX — About 10 years ago, I was part of a delegation of Mexican Americans that visited Mexico City. At one point, we visited a junior high school where many of us were surprised to learn that eighth-graders didn't know there was such a thing as Mexicans born in the United States. The Mexican government — perhaps still carrying a grudge over the outcome of the U.S.-Mexican war in 1848 — saw no need to have schools teach students about their distant relatives to the north.

We explained to the students how several generations of Mexican Americans were born and raised in the U.S., and how many of us have not forgotten our roots or our extended family to the south. Then a girl raised her hand and asked a heart-wrenching question: "In that case," she said, "why did you take you so long to come back?"

Such is the complicated relationship between Mexicans and Mexican Americans, one that has been woven into the tapestry of the Southwest for more than 150 years. The stitching is on display in Arizona now that local and state law enforcement officers have begun implementing portions of the state's controversial immigration law.

For Mexican immigrants in Arizona, the struggle is to keep one's spirits high in what is a lonely and scary time. For Mexican Americans, the struggle is to empathize and get worked up about a law that, arguably, doesn't impact them.

Bridging a divide

The truth is, there aren't enough therapists in either country to allow Mexican Americans to unpack all the issues they have with Mexican immigrants and vice versa. Yet Republicans seemingly have done the impossible: They've driven Mexican Americans and Mexicans together into a common cause. By overreaching with Arizona's controversial immigration law, Republicans are losing voters who might normally have been on their side.

You see, many Mexican Americans — like other Americans — actually support the idea of increasing border security. They are not philosophically opposed to deporting illegal immigrants. But Republicans stepped over the line when they pushed for allowing local police to engage in racial and ethnic profiling as a way of ridding the state of illegal immigrants. Suddenly, Mexican Americans are concerned that such laws could impact them, too.

Census estimates show that as many as 46 million Latinos were living in the USA in 2008. Two-thirds of this population is either Mexican or Mexican American. And interestingly, these two groups have long been not just on opposite sides of the border — but also on opposing sides of issues.

The old saying goes that Mexican Americans are seen as Mexican — everywhere but in Mexico. Mexicans often refer to their distant relatives to the north as pochos, an Americanized and watered-down version of the original. In turn, Mexican Americans will sometimes use even more offensive words, including ethnic slurs, to describe Mexicans.

Yet, the main problem in this relationship is a sense of detachment. Mexicans and Mexican Americans have been conditioned to not see each other's problems as their own.

"There is normally a huge divide between second- and third-generation Latinos and those recently arrived in this country," says Alfredo Gutierrez, a former majority leader of the Arizona Senate and an outspoken critic of the new law. "But what has happened, as a result of this law, is a collapse of the divide."

That's what I'm seeing here in Phoenix. The Arizona law is so egregious that it has allowed Mexicans and Mexican Americans to experience something that, frankly, they're not used to: unity. According to polls, the vast majority of Latinos in the state — both citizens and immigrants — oppose the law.

A recent Rocky Mountain Poll found that 69% of Latinos oppose the measure, while 65% of whites support it. Other surveys are consistent with those findings, showing that 65%-70% of Latinos in the state oppose the measure. So, many Mexican Americans are choosing sides, and — whether it's for their own self-interest or in defense of a larger principle — they're siding with Mexican immigrants.

To be fair, a minority of Latinos in Arizona supports the law. According to a recent poll by Latino Decisions, they include 18% of second-generation Latino voters. In the fourth generation, the figure is 33%. The longer people's family has been in the U.S., the more likely they are to support the new law. Older Latinos are more likely to support the law than younger ones.

Behind the resentment

When you talk to Mexican Americans who support the law, one thing that comes through loud and clear is resentment that the Mexican immigrants of today are more defiant, more loyal to Mexico, and act more entitled than their predecessors of a century ago.

I understand. As someone whose grandfather came from Mexico legally in the early 1900s, I feel much the same way. I just don't think the Arizona immigration law is a cure as much as a recipe for more problems. Offering a temporary solution, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton struck down some provisions of the law but let stand others. The Arizona Compromise seems to have made everyone in the state angry.

Take a number. Demographics being what they are, to the degree that Arizona's immigration law has enraged Mexican Americans — who can vote — in defense of undocumented Mexican immigrants — who can't — those elected officials who are pushing the law for political gain (all of them Republicans) will likely come to regret it for many years to come.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group, a CNN.com contributor and a commentator for National Public Radio.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/fo ... 5_ST_N.htm

i think the person who wrote this piece speaks for itself

EMAIL - ruben@rubennavarrette.com

Originally Posted by jamesw62

i think the person who wrote this piece speaks for itself

you are right

Originally Posted by jamesw62

i think the person who wrote this piece speaks for itself

Navarrette isn't a news reporter. He is a columnist. He always speaks for himself.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group, a CNN.com contributor and a commentator for National Public Radio.

Mexicans killed 72 illegal aliens from Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil and Ecuador

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-210411.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010 ... xico_N.htm

Navarrette, the Mexicans and the Mexican Americans must be so proud.