Mexican Immigration
By Daniel Miessler on February 27th, 2008: Tagged as America | Culture
From a CNN story:
Rather than construct a wall, 63 percent of Latinos in Texas support a pathway to citizenship as a means of addressing illegal immigration.
As a means of addressing? Addressing as in solving? Help me understand where I’m going wrong here.
- Too many people are here illegally.
- Solve that by making them not illegal anymore.
- People in Mexico see how it works.
- People in Mexico do anything to get to America.
So basically, based on this system, the way to fix illegal immigration from Mexico is to make it legal. Technically speaking that solves it immediately, but in reality all it does is merge our two countries.
Here’s the problem: Mexicans are fleeing Mexico for a reason. And when they flee they bring that reason with them to America. People who come here need to become something else upon getting here, and that’s not happening.
Instead they’re recreating the exact situation they escaped from. The only difference is that it feels better here because the infrastructure is still better — for now. But over time the U.S. will start to look more and more like Mexico in terms of culture and ideals. And at that point everyone — including the Mexicans — are going to look around and say, “Wow, this place is a dump.”
Immigration is great, and any external people can be reforged into the adopting country, but it takes time and pressure. Pressure is what we are no longer applying. Pressure means having an overwhelming and unifying CENTRAL identity toward which everyone moves.
But we don’t have that anymore, or at least it’s very dormant right now. I just wonder when we’re going to figure out how big of a mistake we’re making.:
--
Can we seriously expect immigrants to adopt an “American identity” when Americans themselves don’t really even know what it means to be American? We’re in a sad state of affairs.
Comment by ncloud — 2/27/2008 @ 1:41 pm
I always thought there was a legal path to citizenship through legal immigration via ellis island. What makes anyone think that the current rush of illegal immigrants would follow the rules any more than they follow the current laws?
Comment by Jason Ormes — 2/27/2008 @ 3:11 pm
Great post Daniel! The US is turning into Mexico overnight. Not because of the influx of Latino’s, but as you mention, the proliferation of their culture and way of living. No, I’m not talking about just Latino food or Latino music. I’m talking about the fact they are just recreating their communities they left in Mexico, here in the US.
Certain races/ethnic groups have certain cultural tendencies and general cultural lifestyles. Sometimes those tendencies need to be adjusted to conform to where they are. Reminds me of “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
For example, the Spanish language should NOT be forced upon our children in school. This is why the immigration problem is creating a merged society. This is America, not little Tijuana. English is the accepted language. Immigrants should have to conform to the US standards. If they don’t like that idea, then maybe they should stay where they are and try to improve their own communities that do possess some of the cultural traits that are most pleasing to them.
Legal pathway to citizenship? There is a legal pathway to citizenship. Plenty of immigrants are doing it and thousands have already. If we grant amnesty to all the current illegals residing the in the US, what does that tell all the immigrants who went through the appropriate process? What does that tell future illegals? It tells them, just wait long enough, cause enough problems, and generally be a nuisance to the people of the country they’re in, and they’ll get amnesty.
Comment by Jonathan — 2/27/2008 @ 3:36 pm
Much better put than Lou Dobbs manages nightly.
The lack of Americanization, is the issue. And to ncloud’s point above. there is an American Identity, we just don’t like to talk about it much because when you do it sounds shallow… but it works.
The true American Identity is not the Identiy that American’s advertise in our media, commercials, and conversation. Those are American Ideals.
To Americanize is to adopt the American Identity and then talk about but not fully adopt, the American Ideals.
Comment by Chris — 2/27/2008 @ 4:29 pm
But over time the U.S. will start to look more and more like Mexico in terms of culture and ideals. And at that point everyone — including the Mexicans — are going to look around and say, “Wow, this place is a dump.”
Did you examine that before you posted it. Do you seriously believe that Mexican culture is “a dump.” Mexico is a dump because of a poor economy and a history of corruption that has kept it that way. Mexican culture, on the other hand, is rich and exciting. When I lived in Orlando I lived in a prodminantly Hispanic neighborhood and there where no problems. Everyone was nice. When the hurricanes came through putting two trees in the road preventing us from driving out of our neighborhood, we all banded together and got those trees cut-up and moved. It was a week before we ever saw the city people come through to clean up, but we had already beat them to it. In the white neighboorhoods, trees where down until the city came and removed them. In my experience, culturally speaking Hispanics value hard work, friendship, and having a good time. I welcome anyone with these values to my country.
The only “American Identity” I think people should have to do adopt is a very generic value for freedom and peace. Other than that I enjoy the multi-cultural experience I can get just in my small town. It’s even better that the experience is even more broad across this whole nation. Homogonization is not a good thing.
Comment by Maxo — 2/27/2008 @ 4:42 pm
See, Maxo makes my point. “Hard Work, friendship, and having a good time.” Those are great ideals, and largely those are “American Ideals” but those aren’t the things that make-up the American Identity.
If everyone helps everyone else for free, you aren’t going to be able to have a vibrant government or private business sector. To have that, you need people with narrow specializations, who aren’t willing to help others unless they get paid.
If people give away services for free (helping your neighbor) then how is the landscaping company going to charge for those services? If we have big family meals every night, who is going to support the resturaunt industry? If people are helping people for free at things they do not do professionsally, then largely those things are also going to be done at a mediocre level.
Indifference to your neighbor, a strong belief in the world of commerce, and a just and level playing field. It doesn’t sound warm and fuzzy like “Hard Work, friendship, and having a good time.” but it does provide alot of goods, services and wealth.
(Side note: A strong belief in friends and family can also lead to cronies and corruption as you tend to favor people you are related to, instead of favoring people indifferently based on their merits.)
Comment by Chris — 2/27/2008 @ 6:36 pm
Well, first of all I’m mexican, and as Maxo pointed out, you make it sound like Mexico, in general, is a dumpster. I disagree, obviously, though I undestand your main point. First of all, let me make this clear, NOT all mexicans want to go to the US, and I know you have heard about this a lot, but it’s true, and not all Mexico is kindof poverty and starving kids. Making that clear, I can only say that here in Mexico, the media and the goverment have been criticizing US goverment for enforcing anti-inmigrant measures. But they never criticize our own goverment that has been unable to provide a decent way of living to all this people. And while the US keeps receiving all this mexican inmigrants, mexican goverment can rest assured, while americans have to deal with their incompetence. I wonder what would happen if someday the US decided to send back all the mexican inmigrants… something big would happen here, and maybe it would be for good.
Comment by Eduardo — 2/28/2008 @ 3:38 am
@Chris - If wealth is your litmus test for what makes a country great then I think you and I are using tests at opposite ends of the spectrum that measure what we want for our country. I am not a wealthy person, but when I look at the people I meet on a daily basis, I think I’ve got a lot more going for me in my life than the average person. I have no problem with making more money, but it does not substitute the real treasures I have amassed in my lifetime.
Comment by Maxo — 2/28/2008 @ 3:56 am
@Maxo My observations above, are not my beliefs on how the world should work, but just because, like you, I do not believe that wealth should be the litmus test, doesn’t mean it isn’t for the majority of people.
I personally don’t worry too much about the immigration issue really, I don’t think outside people coming to America will undo it. Americans have that capability all by themselves and looking to Imigrants is just scapegoating.
I also think that Government shouldn’t target the immigrants, it should target the business’s hiring them. There are no special IDs needed, it doesn’t take long to prove to a person that you are most likely a natural born citizen. People know when they are hiring non-American’s. And the government is quite capable of figuring out when a business’s books don’t add up. Put stiff penalties on the people hiring and you’ll remove the illegal immigration incentive quick enough.
Don’t deport the people. Just shut down the business’s hiring low wage illegal immigrant labor. Level the playing field by making all businesses play by the same hiring rules. The problem isn’t illegal immigrants, it’s American business using illegal hiring practices.
Comment by Chris — 2/28/2008 @ 5:53 am
Very well said.
National identity is no longer an ideal. Instead, it’s being treated as an illness.
Mexicans aren’t the problem, however. Mexicans alone are only a symptom of what’s going on. The process that brings them, and all the other destitute world citizens to our country is the issue that must be dealt with.
It is widely denied by the liberal establishment that illegal immigrants bring their own culture and problems into our society. And it’s hard to define where their cultural faults find expression in our social structure.
Perhaps better rhetoric concerning this would help bring this plight of our people, the values of our national identity being in jeopardy, would serve to bring to the fore this very dire threat.
We can scream “illegals this” and “immigrants that” all we want, but in the end too often raising this issue makes anyone look like irate, inbred nazies waving pitchforks and torches.
It’s time to nail down exactly what they are doing to our way of life, in hard, irrefutable numbers and statistics that clearly mark the downward coriolis spiral that is our new cultural trajectory.
-=T=-
Comment by TIMM — 2/29/2008 @ 9:54 am