Bienvenida A Casa !
Welcome. Come out of the shadows now, thanks to a courageous President Obama. I’m sorry this has taken so long but there are a few nativists here who have made the process of legalizing your residency difficult. Let’s forgive and ignore them.
U.S. and Mexican people have long been closely connected. Were it not for events of the fairly recent past, my 45 years in Texas might have actually been in Mexico. Those years gave me a huge respect and love for Mexican and Mexican American people and culture.
I was quite surprised on moving to Delaware to see quite a few Mexican restaurants and a visit to the Hwy. 13 Farmers Market made me feel like I was back in Texas. And really good Mexican restaurants down Hwy. 1. These are happy surprises. But I digress.
But there’s much more to Mexican and Mexican American culture that I find most appealing and fascinating. Having had the opportunity to travel all over Mexico I can see how pervasive in a good way these cultural influences are to my Tejano friends. Many have generations behind them in Tejas and the southwest, but you see visually the beauty in art, architecture, music and cultural traditions that connect them to the people in Mexico.
I had the opportunity in my early years in Texas to travel with M.A. friends to the border towns, visit with their families there and observe how freely they communed with family in Mexico, though with much greater difficulty today due to the so called border security. This is sad. I really wish we could have an open border.
Our histories are intertwined and it makes American life so much more interesting. These histories engaged me so that I had the good fortune and good times visiting many Aztec and many more Mayan ruins throughout that region. Amazing technology and engineering, science, lore and legend represented at those sites. Looking closely, you see that these early people rivaled the European civilization many of my ancestors brought here. Anglo’s have little justification to feel cultural superiority.
I have such respect for M.A. people’s struggle to maintain their dignity so often under attack by nativist north Americans. I have wonderful memories of standing with my Chicano friends in their struggle in Texas for a political voice and representation. And their struggle to have their culture not disrespected in the Texas educational system. We still have a long way to go.
But I urge my fellow Anglo Americans to immerse in the art of this culture; you’ll be awed by the Diego Rivera murals. Page through books of both historic and futuristic Mexican architecture. Ceramics? There’s none more interesting. These reflect a vivid appreciation of color as a celebration of life, even a life of struggle.
Music? Much of it so joyful, sung and played by a people with so many struggles. It seems contradictory but seems to fuel hope. Yes, there are even graduate studies in Tejano music and travel around Texas and you’ll hear it on many radio stations. Its flavors have moved me to hear and play Carlos Santana’s incredible music whenever possible as family members will attest.
Food? I don’t need to go there. An aging stomach can’t tolerate chilies like it used to but when you think of chocolate, for example, it really started way down there. Try a mole’ sometime. An experience in extacy.
Film? You’ve not lived if you’ve not seen Cantiflas, a great Mexican film actor. I know all of you have appreciated the work of Anthony Quinn. Doesn’t sound very Mexican but he was.
Family values espoused by so many here? Theirs are unparalleled. Hard work, another American value. These amazing people define the very word.
My biggest regret with the Obama executive order touching maybe 5 million of us is that many left a political society in Mexico which marginalized those with native features and blood and idealized those with Spanish and European physical characteristics; the latter gave them political leadership and favor in media and advertising. Look closely, you’ll see it.
Worst of all, the society many immigrants left in Mexico is highly polarized between long standing wealth and material control and those without. And there are many, many more without wealth and power than those in possession of both. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Many coming here didn’t get that memo on the state of economic affairs in the U.S.A. I hope they are not disappointed.
Actually, I hope many are disappointed and join the grassroots movement to re-balance the economic disparity in America. Their earlier generations were not so successful in doing so in Mexico, but maybe, just maybe, we can reverse it here. My M.A. friends are working very hard at it.
Welcome home. You can make a home here now and please, keep sharing your culture and values with us all. Gracias.
Tags: Featured
Birthers can now finally give it a break. The most notable illegal alien the country has ever had, (Barack Obama), has now illegally updated his illegal status to legal. And in doing so, has also done the country a huge favor, since, of course this action will be overturned by a unanimous decision from the supreme court, like many of President Obama’s previous over reaching actions, even though it will take one to two years, and of course this will cause a great deal more hardship for all the illegals involved once their new temporary status is revoked, but, what the President did to help the country is cement in the mind of the 310 million legal citizens of the country, including all the adult electorate, that for 100% sure, the next few presidents of the U.S. for years to come will be chosen with their abilities and desire to follow the constitution in mind, and hence, will be Republicans. President Obama in one foul swoop has wiped out the democrat party as we know it. Please accept this heart felt thanks from this staunch republican.
Tricks are for kids
Mouse, Rusty is a kid. He entertains us with his attempts and like a grade school orchestra which can’t hit notes correctly, we still enjoy it and marvel that he can even perform at all.
“Birthers can now finally give it a break. The most notable illegal alien the country has ever had, (Barack Obama), has now illegally updated his illegal status to legal.”
I lol’ed. That’s some good stuff. I think Rusty could be a parody troll.
are people really going to come out of the shadows for a 3 year work permit?
Rusty is lobbying for Colbert’s gig, I think. Twisted incomprehensible conservative nonsense presented in the fictional charcter form of “Rusty Dils”. Damn, if it wasn’t for Larry Wilmore I believe he’d have a real shot. That’s real talent…
(We’re laughing at you not with you…)
Oh and Sussex Anon… the answer is yes.
I dunno, Dorian. It gets people registered for 3 years…..then what happens? The republican controlled house and senate will suddenly pass an immigration bill?
Isn’t anyone going to check to make sure the employers are paying SS, Medicare and payroll taxes?
PP, thank you for your celebration of Mexican culture, which I also appreciate, but what does that have to do with illegal immigration?
I agree with deferring deportation from the country on humanitarian grounds, but illegal workers definitely need to be deported from the workplace. Their presence in the workplace in such numbers has depressed employment, shifted wage scale down in entire industries, and weakened enforcement of workplace safety. Displacement of American workers is real. I would like to be generous to anybody who wants to come to America, but I have seen too many citizens unable to find work, or working for too little. Illegal employment has decimated the once fairly abundant opportunties for low-skilled workers, and some moderately skilled workers.
Let the illegal employer know that the game is over and they can’t employ illegals anymore, deferrment or not. It’s not fair to employers who follow the rules. Don’t deport the workers, but bar them from working and let them ponder what they should do next.
Totally agree on nailing lawbreaking employers. And the impact on our workforce. But that is where the punishment should be levied. And deportations of unregistered should continue and will at record levels under obama as has border security.
That said, if they are going to stay and work, let’s make them citizens ASAP without any BS about fines, waiting periods, and working permits. The last thing I want is to create a horde of people who are LEGALLY second-class citizens. The sooner they are citizens, the sooner they will fight for higher wages and better workplace conditions. So if they are going to stay and work, let’s take the hit to our job market (we’re probably screwed anyway) and swear ’em in.
But that is where the punishment should be levied.
Agreed. If the US started closing illegal employers, by the end of the month every business in America would audit its own workforce for illegal workers, and the job magnet would be de-magnetized.
Problem is,there is too much wiggle room in current law. I have yet to see a “comprehensive” reform proposal with teeth for employer accountability.
puck–I think you’re confusing squatter’s rights with responsibilities of obtaining citizenship.
Why do you think people will “come out of the shadows”, if it’s going to cost them $$$?
BTW, when a party gets crushed in an election they usually step back and move toward the center to accommodate the voters. Not the new Democratic party though. The president said he hears the 2/3 of the people who didn’t vote? In other words he doesn’t except this last election because he thinks he knows that the people who didn’t vote give him the mandate, and that’s all that matters. How does he know this?
“, when a party gets crushed in an election they usually step back and move toward the center to accommodate the voters. ”
Most elected Democrats would have to move left to get to the center. This election was not about policies, it was about rage that Obama is still black.
That’s absurd puck. Come out of the past. Stop making excuses for losing.
Tell me. Why do the people you call racists, support Ben Carson…. Are you going to say “Uncle Tom” ?
You know. There are theories out there that contend the Democratic party mindset is what’s keeping African Americans down.
“Obama is still black.”
Why do you say Obama is “black”, when he is also half white ?
Puck, I’m going to withdraw my support for the idea undoc. immigrants take jobs from legals/citizens. A browsing of literature reminded me that I had long ago looked into this argument and there is now nearly universal agreement among economists of all stripes that they have expanded the job market, not taken a significant piece of it.
Shierholz: In the ongoing debate on immigration, there is broad agreement among academic economists that it has a small but positive impact on the wages of native-born workers overall: although new immigrant workers add to the labor supply, they also consume goods and services, which creates more jobs …
Puck, think of the leaf blowers coming thru your street; or the nanny caring for the kid next door. They create their own job, then spend their wages and add to the economy. This is not an argument to justify undoc. status but the facts seem to bear out…..even unions like SEIU and conservatives like CATO agree they expand the economy.
As for deportation, Obama has deported about 2 million; most of those, excepting criminals, were rounded up en masse at illegal employers and shipped off.
Puck, think of the leaf blowers coming thru your street; or the nanny caring for the kid next door. They create their own job, then spend their wages and add to the economy.
They created more jobs by agreeing to work for lower wages,the employers agreed to hire them illegally, and the authorities looked the other way. That is what you call a race to the bottom, and a fairly sleazy one.
Imports of manufactured goods from China “benefited” consumers too, right? Until they wondered where all their manufacturing jobs went.
What happened to the locals who were displaced from access to the leaf-blowing and babysitting jobs? Not necessarily people who were fired from their jobs and directly replaced by an illegal, but entire industries where low-skilled or entry level citizens no longer have access, because wages are suppressed.
I would agree that the number of lawn maintanance and baby sitting jobs has “expanded” because illegal employment has driven wages down. Of course when you lower the price of something you tend to get more of it. But is that good for the country?
I now see middle class people, the kind of families who used to cut their own grass when I was growing up, now hiring the guys with the low trailers. I can’t say they are employing illegals, but you have to wonder. I saved up a fair amount of money for college cutting local lawns, and I spent that in the local economy. That is no more.
Anyway, everything is not about lawnmowers, fruit-pickers, or nannies. Those are easy to point at, but other jobs have been displaced too. My knowledge is necessarily anecdotal, but I understand the house-flipping business, which is a key player in the economy, relies on very cheap skilled and unskilled labor to make a profit. Demolition, construction site labor, painting, drywall, all were performed by locals before the illegals came.
Lowering wages at the very bottom has a ripple effect lowering wages into intermediate brackets. Raising them would ripple upward too.
Puck your comments are well taken, but I am not defending the hiring of these people but the empirical evidence suggests they did little or no displacement; they created new economic demands, though their wages are tragic and their impact on our nation’s absence of strategic planning for our economic future really is not the issue. What should be the issue is the negative impact NAFTA had on the Mexican economy, driving these desperate people up here. Many were driven off their sustainable little farms into Mexico city’s ghettos and across our border as American agri-business invaded Mexico and displaced these tenant farmers and their parents. Thus, we likely have some moral responsibility to offer them some limited refuge and opportunity to overcome the results of our policies.
Puck, think of the leaf blowers coming thru your street; or the nanny caring for the kid next door. They create their own job, then spend their wages and add to the economy.
Classic broken window fallacy. Remember to account for the citizens who used to do those jobs and are now unemployed.
But notice, it’s NEVER about the people illegally hiring undocumented workers, never! List to any talk radio, Fix news or other hateful right wing rhetoric. Its about hating the Hispanics and keeping them out. That is very telling. If we had a serious punitive enforcement regime that went after the company owers and corporate officers who hired illegals, it wouldn’t be a problem. That is obviously the most effective solution, but no one in the republican right is calling for it. That speaks volumes of their motivation..