I've said on the radio show, and on this blog, that in my opinion, the immigration debate largely misses a very important point: many, if not most, of the illegal migrants who come to this country overland from Mexico are not coming here for citizenship, or freedom, or some other Statue of Libertyesque truism: they're coming here for cash, that they intend to send home to Mexico (to the tune of becoming that country's second largest component of GDP.) Now, for some hard facts to back up that point:
National Opinion Research Center General Social Surveys (GSS) and finds facts about groups that go against the conventional wisdom. He's been digging for info in the last couple of months about Mexicans compared to other immigrants and has dug up a lot of facts that do not support immigration myths widely promoted by the "Open Borders" crowd. I've collected up many of his posts on this topic and excerpted them below.
Mexican immigrants do not value American citizenship: An iSteve.com reader wrote that illegals don't want to be citizens, but "Mexicans with benefits." What do the data say? GSS respondents were asked how important is it to them to be an American citizen. Only one-third of Mexican immigrants said this was important. Almost twice as many immigrants from all the other countries felt this way (60%). Eighty percent of native-born Americans value their citizenship.
They don't come here for freedom. If they did they'd want to become citizens. They come here to make more money.
Blogger Randall Parker of Parapundit, who posted the links, also points out that Mexicans are the second most race-consscious group studied, second to African-Americans. We could go through a littany of reasons why Black Americans are, as Parapundit says, "race conscious" (starting with the fact that for more than 200 years, Blacks have been targeted for discrimination simply on the basis of skin color...) but point taken. There is a strong identification with "la raza" among many Mexicans, and it isn't about becoming more Aemrican. Meanwhile, Blacks are as American as apple pie, down to contributing mightily to this nation's culture, vocabulary and sense of identity. I see where Randall is going, and with the follow-ons, he seems to be suggesting a link between being Mexican, being Black and being both un-American and, further down the post, government-needy and criminal-minded. That's where his argument goes from logical to race-baiting in 60 seconds...
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%>
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%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
