Not A Mexican American Issue

With all the uproar over the Arizona immigration rule which intends to enforce US immigration rules, I can't help but think that we need a Mexican American voice.

Contrary to what many believe, immigration is not a Mexican American issue.  It never has been because Mexican American refers to US born.  Hence if one is not US born then the legal protection granted to its citizenry does not pertain to foreign born even if born along the border, though there might be a cultural bond of a region versus someone who moves from the south of Mexico north.  Because to be born in Baja California along the border is different than to be born in Sinaloa, Zacatecas or Jalisco; they are not the same by geography, space, history.  When my mother was born in Baja California, Baja California Norte was only a territory and people born in Baja or those who lived there had to prove they were Mexicans to travel on to the mainland.

Can you believe that?  Baja California people had to show papers to step on to mainland Mexico.  I saw this once in 1978 when I traveled with my father to Cajeme, Cd. Obregon, Sonora.  Though my father was born in Mexicali and had his residency established by his mother in the late 1950's, my father got harassed because he was considered American and not Mexican because he had a US residency card and a California license.  My father never lived in Baja after 10 so he never had a Baja California identification.

My maternal grandmother also from Baja California told me how she was harassed by Mexican officials when she traveled to Guanajuato in the early 1980's.  The official did not believe she was a Mexican citizen though culturally she met the criteria.  She was a rancho woman from the valley of the Sierra Cucapah so she did not back down from a fight.  The Mexican Country immigration officer told her she would not travel any further without an identification and she resorted to her rancho ways by proving to him that she was born in Mexico.  The man tired but these two incidents taught me that Baja California people were not considered Mexicans in the continental definition, they were first Baja Califorences before they were Mexicans because my people came from a land that was separated from Mexico and it was.  That is what made Baja California people special.

Even our lingo was half English in the Spanish.  No wonder I could not pass the FBI Linguistic Exam because my Baja California language is made up of two mixed in with Apache words that only us Baja California people comprehended.  I hated this ex Bolivian girlfriend I had years ago because she was always correcting how I spoke.  What did the idiot understand about my upbringing?  Stupid South Americans show up to California and attempt to impose their mediocre cultural attributes.  I really hated this woman.

Thus returning to the immigration issue, look if you were not born here and if the family was not around for the amnesty that the Republicans passed and granted US residency to 3 plus millions who then think wonders of Ronald Reagan, ICE has the right to deport you at any given moment.  They do it all the time, why should some be deported and others not?

Mexican Americans are not going to get deported, hell if you have a criminal record which many of you do, even with non-criminal issues such as back pay child support, they won't give you a passport and let you out of the country.  The US is your prison.

The media in Spanish plays this up, the politicians who believe this is a civil rights issue which it is not because it is an issue of the US government allowing you in.  A civil rights issue is why are there so many Mexican Americans without employment versus foreign born have jobs.  And I do not only mean Mexico born, I mean Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba, Canada, China, England, Israel, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Germany, the Netherlands and France born.  I do not even believe a Puerto Rican born should have a job over a US born Mexican American in California.

Why should all these foreign born have employment over US born and in particular over Mexican Americans?  What does American citizenship mean by birth?  As of now, nothing. 

Before all these people from India or Mexico arrived, there were still doctors and manual labor was being completed by Mexican Americans, so we don't need doctors from India or Iran.  Mexico produces an abundance of doctors and they earn less in Gross Domestic Products than the US.

These immigration protests are distracting the real issues facing Mexican Americans which is their right to the basics of food, shelter and a future.  Why should somebody born in southern Mexico be hired to teach Chicano Studies over a US born Mexican American?  What does a Mexican know about Mexican Americans?

And private institutions that allow undocumented students in when they could have educated a Mexican American such as Harvard, then shame on you for turning your backs on American citizens.  The focus on worldly issues is only doing harm to this country by ignoring US citizens who just happen to be brown, have a Spanish surname but are born in the US.  Yes, there are many brown people born in the US, all of US do not come from Mexico, we come from the US.

So as you think about these protests just remember that the immigrant population is crying louder and are paid more attention than Mexican Americans who are still pushed aside and called lazy by these very same immigrant Mexicans simply because being US born is considered to be a privilege when it is not.  But an immigrant Mexican would not know this because they do not have the history of from the cradle to the present.

I honestly could careless what happens to undocumented Mexicans, I have to worry about myself getting a job because those jobs went to foreigners at CSULB in Chicano Studies and had no qualms about my well being or me being without benefits for my children while they bask in luxury.

The Fed. Govt. will do what they want to and nobody can stop them.

Many of these people will adjust well in southern Mexico were most of them are from and we won't have to listen to them victimize themselves.  They could teach English down there, why should Mexico import White teachers when those Mexicans can teach them.  For those Indian doctors, you are needed in India.

If you get stopped by the police, show them your identification and if you aren't texting while driving, wearing your seatbelt, you should be fine.

JSC