Non-Citizen Soldiers

It's unseemly when some blowhard uses public sorrows to push a pre-existing agenda, but hey, it's how we earn our livings. The SF Chronicle employs the phenomenon of posthumous citizenships for fallen American fighters to argue for an improved citizenship process and condemn anti-immigrant sentiment. "There's something terribly wrong with our immigration policies if it takes death on the battlefield in order to earn citizenship," says Cardinal Mahoney, apparently not a big Starship Troopers fan.

Comments

[Tim Stich]

Yes, the only Good bug is a Dead bug.

-Want to know more? (click here)

[Xrlq]

IMNSHO, there is a lot more terribly wrong with the fact that Roger "they didn't do it, nobody saw them, can't prove anything" Mahony is still a Cardinal.

[Lonewacko]

My comments on this editorial are here. As that post notes, MX now wants to make dual citizenship permanent. And, they've even been attempting to conduct a survey of U.S. soldiers who are either from MX or of Mexican descent. Now, why would they do that? Because they're nice people?

Mark Krikorian has an editorial about non-citizen soldiers here.

This post on dual citizenship has links to several other interesting things MX is doing. The NRO article linked to from the first post above lists several of them. If you still aren't motivated to check them out, consider this quote from it:

"Last month The Californian (Salinas) reported on February 26 that the Mexican counsel general in San Jose, Marco Antonio Alcazar, told Mexican-American fifth and six graders at a school in Salinas that because of Mexico's dual-nationality law they have "the right to automatically obtain Mexican citizenship." Alcazar declared, "This is exciting because there are many children, who were born in the United States, whose parents are Mexican. And these children have the opportunity now to enjoy two different nationalities?" Alcazar gave the school "complete collections of educational books* from the Mexican government, intended to help students understand Mexican history and culture."

The Mexican government does not fund terrorist organizations or espouse a radical form of religion. However, there are many parallels between our relations with them and those with Saudi Arabia. Just a few months ago many people scoffed at the Saudis being a problem, but they seem to have woken up a bit recently. Hopefully one of these days people will start to examine what the Mexican government is doing in the same fashion as they have the Saudis.

*I have yet to check them out, but supposedly the history books provided by MX for free to U.S. schools and libraries have a different interpretation of the rightful ownership of the Southwestern U.S., the Mexican-American war, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, etc. than U.S. textbooks.

[Douglas Fletcher]

About Mexico -- well, to paraphrase Charlie Manson, "we're gonna get their kids."

Once these Mexicans kids are here 10 years they won't have any more urge to be "Mexican" than I have to be "Scottish." There's a reason why we have a trade imbalance with Mexico when it comes to immigrants, and the reason is the immigrants think they'll have a better life by coming here. Their kids certainly aren't going to think any different, Mexican national pride notwithstanding.

[Anonymous]

Ahhh yes. Catholic school. Where they taught my Dad that if the nuns need a wall repaired, you soon find yourself accused of doing something immoral. This will quickly be followed by a decision to punish you by having you rebuild a wall.

[Lonewacko]

I live in L.A. near Hollywood, and I interact on a daily or at least weekly basis with immigrants from various lands.

If you work in a panaderia, and all your customers speak Spanish, and you can watch one of the three or four Spanish-language TV stations in L.A., and read La Opinion, and live in a predominantly Hispanic area, and read Spanish-language government websites and documents, and speak with Spanish-speaking operators, well, there would seem to be a bit of an infrastructure there reducing any attempts at assimilation, no?

While the children might assimilate and feel more American, once they go to college and attend their first Ethnic Studies class, many of them become radicalized. Many of those go on to become politicians: Villaraigosa, Cruz Bustamante, and Raul Grijalva are just a few former Mecha members.

I'd suggest googling aztlan, reconquista, treaty of guadalupe hidalgo, zogby poll rightful owner southwest, chicano park aztlan, and other terms. I don't think the situation is quite as innocent as you seem to believe.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Hello lonewacko--

I live here in Phoenix, which is probably the heart of Mexican immigration these days, from what I hear statistically. My point about not re-assimilating to Scotland was a bit flip, but please come to Phoenix, look around, and seriously tell me that you think even a tenth of the Mexicans who've come here are ever going to go back to Mexico permanently.

What these people want success and a better life, and as long as economic and political conditions are what they are in Mexico, they aren't going back. I personally don't think this is necessarily a good thing, since I think people should be free to pursue their happiness in their own lands, but obviously that isn't the way the world is at this point.

Mexican politians can try to extend their tentacles into the American southwest all they want, but I really don't think they stand a chance. Say you were someone who'd left Sonora, Mexico to come to Arizona, and found a job paying six times what you could make back home -- what the hell are you going to care what some corrupt politician in Sonora thinks?

To say that there's a huge infrastructure keeping them from assimilating is ridiculous. So many of them are recent immigrants that they're bound to stick together at first, but that will pass. They send their kids to Catholic schools, the kids will learn to read and write English better than they would in public schools, and then it's done. The kids are going to go to universities and law schools. Those kids are not going to go climbing across fences to get back to Mexico.

I think the ideal would be that the US-Mexico border will matter to anyone as much as the US-Canada border does. Unfortunately, this will probably take 30 years, and a lot of academics and politicians will say many stupid and inflammatory things during that time, but I think it will happen eventually.

[Lefty]

Besides, PLC needs someone to mow his yard.

[Lonewacko]

There are more than a few differences:
- Scotland is an ocean away, MX is right next door
- Scotland did not at one time own a major chunk of the U.S.
- The Scottish government is not constantly trying to meddle in U.S. affairs and prevent the assimilation of Scottish-Americans.
- There is not a huge infrastructure that makes not assimilating easy. Let me know when you hear "Press 2 for brogue."
- Scottish Studies departments at universities are not full of extremists.

Check out this and this.

[joe]

Lonewacko,

If you're going to be an alarmist...try talking about things that are frightenging. So Mexican Americans don't immediately jettison their culture? So what?

Nothing in your posts is the slightest big frightening, unless you've already got it out for Mexicans.

[Lonewacko]

Joe: next time address my points directly instead of just attempting a smear.

Here's a sample: Tell me whether it's a good or a bad thing that the MX government provides free history books to U.S. schools and libraries that present MX as the rightful owner of the Southwestern U.S.