Thread: Govenator urges immigrants to assimilate to US Culture

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cct ... 689301.htm



Posted on Thu, Oct. 05, 2006
Governor urges immigrants to assimilate into U.S. culture
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that some Mexican immigrants "try to stay Mexican" when they come to the United States, and he urged them to assimilate into the fabric of American society.

Recalling his own experience emigrating from his native Austria, the Republican governor said immigrants should learn English and U.S. history and "make an effort to become part of America."

"That is very difficult for some people to do especially, I think, for Mexicans because they are so close to their country here so they try to stay Mexican but try to be in America, so there's this kind of back and forth," he said.

"What I'm saying to the Mexicans is you've got to go and immerse yourself and assimilate into the American culture, become part of the American fabric. That is how Americans will embrace you," he added.

Schwarzenegger's comments were condemned by several Democrats supporting the candidacy of his rival in the November election, Phil Angelides. They depicted his remarks as part of a pattern of statements revealing insensitivity toward immigrants and others.

The governor's "comments today were a calculated political insult to all immigrants," California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres said in a statement.

Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, said in a conference call organized by the Democratic Party that "it's not the governor's place to tell immigrants to abandon their language and their culture."

The office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the state's leading Hispanic politicians, didn't respond to requests for comment. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, declined comment through a spokesman.

The governor's comments, after an event in Los Angeles, echoed an opinion piece he wrote in September, which was published in the Los Angeles Times. He was critical of protesters who waved Mexican flags at immigration rallies.

"The message that sends is that you do not want to learn our language or our culture," Schwarzenegger wrote.

Julie Soderlund, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger's campaign, said in a statement that "Phil Angelides' brand of divisive politics rings hollow for immigrants and American-born Californians alike who share the governor's view of the American dream."

The dispute follows a controversy last month about Schwarzenegger's choice of words. The governor apologized for saying in a taped, private meeting that the mixture of Hispanic and black blood gives Puerto Ricans and Cubans "very hot" personalities.

THEY ARE NOT IMMIGRANT'S, Arnie. They are invaders!!!

He is 100% correct. They should become American or else go home. I am sick and tired of hearing how some of them praise the country they came from and basically crap on the United States. If it is so good where you came from, then why are you here? Do us all a favor and go back home.
I was talking with an older gentleman this evening and he hit the nail on the head. When people immigrated to the United States years ago, they were happy to be here, learned English, became Americanized even though they kept some of their ethnic tradition. They were grateful to have that opprotunity. That attitude is gone now.

The Arnold we first voted in had spunk and strong words. He's all polished and pc now, just another politician. I also think he's trying to keep the peace. This state could get scary if things got out of control. Well, things are out of control but you get my drift.

I agree with swatchick,

"What I'm saying to the Mexicans is you've got to go and immerse yourself and assimilate into the American culture, become part of the American fabric. That is how Americans will embrace you," he added.

When we feel we under attack and our way of life, culture and very livelihood are in jeopardy - we are not "welcoming".

Yeah Arnold you say this crap today and tomorrow you'll call anyone who wants the illegals deported as being racist and xenophobic.

Question Arnold. Do you really think these people want to assimulate and become a part of this great country? No Arnold because they have it embedded in their brain that they are here for one reason and one reason only and that is reconquista. If they really wanted to assimulate they would have came here legally. Maybe when you stop giving these criminals a free ride then we as Americans will take what you say more seriously because we will never embrace criminals. Until then whatever you say is nothing, but hot air to us, but being that your a Kennedy by marriage, that doesn't surprise me. I'm sure your buddy uncle Teddy taught you well.

They are invaders. Arnie is saying this more to the voters then the immigrants. He thinks we are fools & stupid. Wants us to think he is trying to do something. At this point I don't care if they speak perfect English and can recite the Constitution backwards. We know who they are and they have shown time and time again what they want and their disdain for US and American culture. This is not new and all the rhetoric in the world isn't going to change that.


Is it Assimilation or Invasion?

November 28, 2001

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, support for the United States has poured in from around the world, but the response from Mexico has been decidedly lukewarm. A Gallup poll reported that 78 percent of Mexicans oppose contributing troops to a multinational coalition, and we have seen no indication that Mexico will modify its oil policy of acting like a member of OPEC.

While there is no evidence that the 9/11 terrorists entered over the Mexican border, the trial in El Paso of an Iraqi smuggler produced evidence that he alone brought more than 1,000 Middle East illegals into the United States via that route, charging his clients $10,000 to $15,000 each. Border Patrol agents have confirmed the increase in illegal aliens coming from the Middle East across our southern border and the fact that Arabs pay up to $50,000 each for a "coyote" to smuggle them into the United States.

The 9/11 events have temporarily shelved the foolish proposals to grant amnesty to three million Mexicans illegally living in our country. Unfortunately, there is no indication that Mexico has retreated from its longtime goal of opening the U.S. border.

In Chicago on July 27, 1997, then Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo told the National Council of LaRaza, "I have proudly affirmed that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders." He announced a Mexican constitutional amendment that purports to allow Mexicans to retain their Mexican nationality even though they become U.S. citizens (which is contrary to the U.S. naturalization oath).

When President Vicente Fox came to the United States this year, he reiterated this line, proclaiming that "the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders" and includes migrants living in the United States. He called for open borders and endorsed Mexico's new dual citizenship law.

Some Mexicans use the term "reconquista," which is Spanish for reconquest, to describe their desire to see California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas acquired by Mexico and named the new country of Aztlan. They are teaching their youth that the United States "stole" those areas from Mexico and that they should be "returned."

The United States acquired the Southwest a century and a half ago in three ways: part by the 1845 annexation agreement with Texas, which was then an independent republic, part ceded by Mexico in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the Mexican-American War, and part by the 1852 Gadsden Purchase.

Mexico's claim to the Southwest originated with the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, which drew an imaginary line on the map to divide the Western Hemisphere between Spain and Portugal. Because geography had so many unknowns at that time, Portugal got only Brazil (which is why Brazilians speak Portuguese).

Other countries never recognized this treaty, and Americans consider it ridiculous even to talk about giving the Southwest to Mexico. Most national borders all over the world have come about as the result of war.

Mexicans obviously have no thought of invading the Southwest with troops, so their hope is reconquista by migration, both legal and illegal. According to Mario Obledo, founder of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund, "California is going to be a Hispanic state and anyone who doesn't like it should leave."

An amnesty rally in the Los Angeles Sports Arena on June 10, 2000 attracted 25,000 people. In demanding amnesty for illegal Mexican aliens, the speakers proudly announced the names of at least a dozen unions in Los Angeles that are now headed by Mexicans.

Vicente Fox presented Mexico's Congress with a five-year development plan to eliminate the U.S.-Mexican border. He said he plans to serve "the 100 million Mexicans who now live in Mexico and the more than 18 million who live abroad," and to "strengthen our ability to protect and defend the rights of all Mexicans abroad."

Juan Hernandez, appointed by Fox as special liaison to Mexicans abroad, lobbies to get U.S. driver's licenses issued to illegal aliens and defends the Mexican government's issuance of desert survival kits to those sneaking across the border. On ABC's Nightline on June 7, he boasted: "We are betting that the Mexican-American population in the United States ... will think Mexico first."

Fox's five-year plan calls for building a larger consular presence in the United States, and this is already in operation. In U.S. areas with large Hispanic (including illegal) populations, the Mexican consul donates to the local public schools the same textbooks that are used in every elementary school in Mexico, grades 1 through 6.

The books, written in Spanish and including all academic subjects, teach that America "stole" the southwest from Mexico and that Mexico is entitled to take it back. The Mexican government considers these textbooks a symbol of Mexican national pride, guarantees a set to every Mexican child, and makes it a crime for anyone to sell them.

The only reason we learned about this Mexican plan is that one school in Santa Ana, California, decided to sell the books at a book fair and the local Hispanics kicked up a fuss about it. The school apologized to the Hispanics for selling the books, but should have apologized to the students for accepting the books in the first place.

The question we should ask our Mexican immigrant friends is, are you assimilating or invading?

Phyllis Schlafly column 11-28-01

7/14/2006-DR. AGAPITO LOPEZ, HAZLETON LATINO ASSOC.: We will never convert ourselves into Anglos. We will aculturize. We will learn the language. We will learn the laws. We will follow the laws. But we will never assimilate.