The map above came from a site which Knuck pointed out yesterday. It shows the concentration of Hispanics throughout the US and it may explain the ambivalence felt by so many with regard to number of illegal entrants who have come up from Mexico. The actual percentage of Hispanics within the four border states and Colorado are:
California: 32.4%
Arizona: 25.3%
New Mexico: 42.1%
Texas: 32%
Colorado: 17.1%
In comparison, the percentage of Hispancis within the total US population is 12.5%. Those numbers may be the explanation as to why many Southwesterners aren't terribly upset with the illegal immigration issue. Having been born and raised with Hispanics and having a next door neighbor named Ruiz (which might as well be Reese, given the fact that I speak more Spanish than he does) plus an aunt named Jolanda (how I miss Aunt Yoli's enchiladas) may well have colored my thoughts on the issue.
I would applaud and offer a hand if the Border Patrol would do a sweep of the Mechistas in LA though.
I wonder what the sausage currently being in made in DC concerning this issue will taste like? I hope they make sure to include some chorizo.
13 comments:
As a Colorado native, I agree with your analysis. I fail to see how they are 'stealing' jobs when the unemployment rate is so low and I see that employers are having a very hard time hiring bottom, middle or upper rung people. I have seen so few job applicants in the last year for Engineers, Engr Techs and general office help that I can need only one hand to count.
If you or someone else here has an interest, locate some numbers dealing the real concerns, law enforcement, hospital/health and school costs. These areas are where many communities feel overwhelmed. Good estimates of these costs are hard to come by as everyone has an agenda.
Ed,
Statistics on law enforcement are sort of available through the INS data I cited in a previous article. The real snag with the medical treatment and school costs is that a lot of the kids involved are US citizens, even if their folks are illegals. A second problem is that their is a very strong blackmarket for false birth certificates for kids in order for the kids to get real SSNs.
And a third problem is that there are locales - LA for example - where questioning status is absolutely verboten, which leads to systemic abuse by the local legal Hispanic population which can't quite see why they should pay for something that cousin Juan from Mexicali gets for free.
Rick:
It is also true that these people tend to do the kind of work that people don't get paid a lot for doing which means that even if they were here legally those costs would still be borne by those communities. People who legally pick lettuce don't make enough to provide health insurance for their families and niether do other seasonal laborers. In other words they are the working poor.
I wonder what the breakdown would have been 50 years ago? When I came to southern Indiana from southcentral Oklahoma 30 years I was struck by all the white faces up here. In Indiana, as of 2004, 85% of the population was white. So says the census.
My guess is that if you could go back to New Mexico decades ago and count the population that was Indian and hispanic together they would very nearly outnumber whites. This is nothing new.
Terrye,
My Hispanic cousins (and they do claim it, even though they have a German/Yiddish last name) include a city planner, a kindergarten teacher and a carpenter. Their mom was born here but her folks were pickers and pruners. My neighbor is self-employed and spends his day in front of computer and on the phone - in his house.
I just can't get excited about people who are here seeking the dream. But I'd sure like a crack at the jerks in LA and other places who are playing identity politics with the weak willed.
The law enforcement costs are probably low, I believe mostly tied to drugs and doing work the INS is expected to do.
The big problem is these illegals have many privileges, compared with others who work very hard to enter this country legally and spend many years to obtain citizenship. This is not right. I am not saying that the old system of Indentured Servants was right, but surely we can do better than what is going on now.
The INS appears to be a hypocritical mess. Not worthy of this country or our heritage. But consonant with D.C. and many of our statehouses.
I also fail to see how the argument of only getting the poor or politically distressed is such a problem. I think my family has done ok. My family history, pre-Revolution, includes Welsh beating Cromwell to the ships, other Welsh migrating to participate in the Rum Trade, other English leaving bad conditions, Huguenots running from France (revocation of Edict of Nantes) and Germans looking for a better deal (No record of any Hessians changing sides). All I ask is any who stay become patriotic citizens.
It's a hard question. In D.C. all my contractos are South Americans (Peru especially) and legal. I think if the burden were spread out more it would create less antagonism..and of Mecha and La Raza would vanish..
In any event, Reid's notion that illegals with felony records should be legalized is unacceptable. http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/1585
Polipundit has a good piece on how we are penalizing law abiding highly skilled workers and greasing the skids for poorly educated and skilled law breakers. That, too, creates a lot of anger.
But I think we forget that Mexico is right next door, countries like Peru are not. I sold a house to a young man from Lima, Peru. Obviously he was legal, he also had money.
There has always been some traffic back and forth, largely ignored and tolerated because for years so many of the people went back home after working here for some time. I wonder too how much of this is media driven, as knucklehead said, anecdotal.
I can well understand the resentment, but when hundreds of illegals die in the desert every year [that we know of] it does not seem to me they are having all that easy a time of it getting. I know I would not want to cross hundreds of miles of desert for a job cleaning houses.
getting here. I have got to start using preview. My little fingers move faster than my brain.
Skook,
Who but a potential felon would vote Dem these days? They know their target market.
Ed,
I think the biggest problem is all the damn cousins. Like me. How can you throw your cousin's cousins out without a flinch?
My family sold the land to the guys who started College of William and Mary College - in 1693 (damn fools, I could use another rent check) but I'm not about to close the door to those seeking the dream. Without the dreamers we're a bigger France.
Blech.
PS - Thanks for stopping by. I've noted your comments for a couple of years at Wretchard's and other places. Well, I think other places.
T-ball is fun!
I don't get that thing about Reid and the felons either. It makes no sense. I wonder if there is more to it than we know.
And besides, isn't there already a law, a rule, something that pertains to felons becoming citizens? We are a nation of immigrants after all...surely this is a subject that has been dealt with before.
skook:
I agree. My grandmother told me that her Irish ancestors came here from Ireland in the Great Hunger. Nobody wanted them and as soon as they got here they got sick with typhus.
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