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El Zocalo - November

Say what you feel

THE NOVEMBER QUESTION
"As a Latino U.S. citizen or legal resident, how has illegal immigration affected you emotionally, economically, politically and in regard to your personal
civil rights?"

SOMETHING PERSONAL
I resent it when I'm driving my car, stop at a stoplight, and a car pulls up next to me playing banda, cumbia, or ranchero music full blast. It's not the music so much as the arrogance of the immigrant, probably illegal, that thinks everybody enjoys his music so much they love hearing it at decibels that hurt the ears.

I resent it when a police patrol car passes me and slows down to check me out because I might be an illegal or doing something illegal, based on nothing more than my Hispanic looks.

I resent it when illegals can buy a house or a big truck but I can't because I'm just getting by on my paycheck.

Mostly I resent that nothing is being done, and things just keep getting worse.

Andy Vega
Tucson

STOP SPEW
I am a citizen of the U.S. thanks to my father, Gregorio Miranda, who came from Paracho, Michoacan, Mexico in the 1920s. I am also a new resident of Arizona and in just the past month, I have been grieved at what I see as an escalating attempt to discredit the Hispanic citizenry in this state, legal and illegal. It is more than evident to me that every effort must be made to remove some politicians with their vomitive voices from office. Stand a moment, look around you. How many Hispanics do you see? That's a powerful vote block, amigos y amigas! You know of whom I speak _ you've seen their recent attempts with immigration bills, legal "interpretations" and boastings of increasing the inhumane tent city to hold more of us. Frankly, I think those politicians who aren't spewing this discriminatory  diatribe ought to distance themselves, and quickly, lest they lose the next one, too.

C. D. Miranda
Phoenix

A TRANSFORMATION
My great-grandfather was a justice of the  peace in Texas; my grandfather a WWII Navy veteran; my father is a Vietnam Vet. I served in the Army Reserves and in the Navy. I don't speak Spanish but if it makes a difference, I failed English in school.

In my neighborhood when I grew up in Los Angeles the Mexican kids would taunt us native-born children by telling us they were "taking  over." With time more and more of them came. Then in the mid to late Ô70s was White flight. Those who could afford to leave did so. Over the next 25 years the transformation was complete and indeed the Mexicans took over.

When illegals overrun a neighborhood they buy rental properties and businesses. They rent to their own, hire their own, and discriminate against non-English speakers. Don't order food in Los Angeles in the wrong language or accent. You don't want to know what you'll get. And don't ever show patriotic feelings toward America. That is especially frowned upon.

I left L.A. to find work because I was a day laborer. I like that kind of work. Of course, like even the Black people in L.A. I couldn't find a job as a janitor. The Mexicans have those jobs.

I missed my hometown, how it use to be. When English was spoken and people respected America. I cry when I see what illegal aliens have done to that once great city. It was once a place where everyone wanted to be. Now the only ones coming to town are illegals.

I dread the possibility of the same thing happening here in Phoenix. A place I have grown to love. Where I can actually hear my own language being spoken on a daily basis. Joy! I feel I am in an American city again. And hey, everyone wants to live in America.

Margarito Martinez

SOLUTIONS, NOT BLAME
I am the son of an immigrant (Tepic) and proud of it. I am saddened emotionally by the fact that a Mexican male citizen is forced to leave his country and abandon family in search of employment far away from home. Many chose to remarry, thus creating an immoral situation and furthering the destruction of the sanctity of family. The Mexican citizen has been stripped of his dignity and this must weigh heavily in the hearts of many.

Economically it has opened my eyes to the hypocrisy of the business world and government - shame on both for exploiting hard-working Mexican citizens without solving the immigration issue. Business is spending billions in advertising targeting Mexican communities, enjoying tremendous profits, and wages remain the same. Enforcement of immigration law by government, as required by law, would be a start toward possible solutions, and not "acts" by politicians.

Politically, when Democrats were in total control of Congress from '92 to '94, they could have done something to alleviate the problem but failed to do so...Ironic, isn't it, (that) Bush has appointed more Latinos to positions of power. And my party? When asked about solutions an Arizona Latino U.S. representative will always blame the Republicans. No solutions, no answers, nothing! Liberalism has destroyed my party. JFK, where are you?

Frank Trejo
Phoenix

BEST OF BOTH
Witnessing illegal immigration during the course of my life gave me an honest perception of political and racial relations and instilled in me certain values. I learned to appreciate the contrast between a first world nation and her neighboring developing nation, and understood that due to reasons of poverty or unequal opportunity, illegal immigrants were passing through my town (Nogales, Ariz.). I learned of the injustice created by the political disequilibrium in both countries. That was the extent of any economic or political pressure on me. In terms of how it affected my civil rights, due to the simple fact that I was born just a bit further north, I was blessed with opportunity that others may not have had. It made me appreciate the fact that I retain my own civil liberties from the U.S. and also the rich culture from Mexico.

Genevieve Gutierrez