Examine Mexico's Real Intent Before Reforming Immigration
Yeh Ling-Ling
Issue date: 2/9/06 Section: Opinion
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President Bush and Congressional leaders of both parties are determined to achieve defacto amnesty in 2006 for millions of illegal migrants. Why should Americans concerned with racial harmony and national unity take a close look at the social and political impacts of massive Mexican immigration?
Professor Samuel P. Huntington, chairman of Harvard University's Academy for International and Area Studies, warned in 2004: "Demographically, socially, and culturally, the reconquista (re-conquest) of the Southwest United States by Mexican immigrants is well underway.... No other immigrant group in U.S. history has asserted or could assert a historical claim to U.S. territory. Mexicans and Mexican Americans can and do make that claim." Huntington also said that "Mexican immigration differs from past immigration and most other contemporary immigration due to a combination of six factors: contiguity, scale, illegality, regional concentration [in the American Southwest], persistence, and historical presence."
In May, 2005, the BBC reported: "The Latinization of California is nothing short of a revolution. California will become a predominantly Spanish-speaking state within the next few years. And, as the majority population, there is really no need, or incentive, for them to assimilate into mainstream American society as their predecessors have always done. Whether Latinos then decide to push for greater autonomy or to seek a political agenda of their own with closer ties to Mexico and Central America is very much up for grabs." In 2001, the pro-immigration New California Media reported that Mexico "continues to mourn the loss of half of its territory to the U.S. in the 19th Century."
Mexico is pushing hard for amnesty and various benefits for millions of illegal Mexican migrants. Once naturalized, amnestied migrants could add tens of millions of people and future voters to the U.S. through births here and through immigration of extended families. U.S.-born children, even of illegal immigrants and guest workers, are American citizens and could vote at 18. Furthermore, in 2001 Ernesto Ruffo Appel, then-border czar of Mexico, reportedly advised Mexican migrants: "If the border patrol agent finds you, try again." In 2004, the Mexican government published a guide with safety tips for Mexicans who want to illegally cross the U.S. border.
Professor Samuel P. Huntington, chairman of Harvard University's Academy for International and Area Studies, warned in 2004: "Demographically, socially, and culturally, the reconquista (re-conquest) of the Southwest United States by Mexican immigrants is well underway.... No other immigrant group in U.S. history has asserted or could assert a historical claim to U.S. territory. Mexicans and Mexican Americans can and do make that claim." Huntington also said that "Mexican immigration differs from past immigration and most other contemporary immigration due to a combination of six factors: contiguity, scale, illegality, regional concentration [in the American Southwest], persistence, and historical presence."
In May, 2005, the BBC reported: "The Latinization of California is nothing short of a revolution. California will become a predominantly Spanish-speaking state within the next few years. And, as the majority population, there is really no need, or incentive, for them to assimilate into mainstream American society as their predecessors have always done. Whether Latinos then decide to push for greater autonomy or to seek a political agenda of their own with closer ties to Mexico and Central America is very much up for grabs." In 2001, the pro-immigration New California Media reported that Mexico "continues to mourn the loss of half of its territory to the U.S. in the 19th Century."
Mexico is pushing hard for amnesty and various benefits for millions of illegal Mexican migrants. Once naturalized, amnestied migrants could add tens of millions of people and future voters to the U.S. through births here and through immigration of extended families. U.S.-born children, even of illegal immigrants and guest workers, are American citizens and could vote at 18. Furthermore, in 2001 Ernesto Ruffo Appel, then-border czar of Mexico, reportedly advised Mexican migrants: "If the border patrol agent finds you, try again." In 2004, the Mexican government published a guide with safety tips for Mexicans who want to illegally cross the U.S. border.