By Juan Mann
02/21/2005
As the Bush Administration prepares to launch America headlong into yet another illegal alien amnesty, the White House’s resident "Texan" (no offense to Midland, Texas-born Laura — I refer to her New Haven, CT-born husband) would be well served by finding out what’s on the mind of the folks from his adopted Lone Star State.
In response to my "Conversations with Tejanos" last week, I received a good amount of e-mail from VDARE.COM readers in Texas.
Granting amnesty to illegal aliens from Mexico — or from anywhere else for that matter — is the last thing on their minds.
They recognize that their fellow-Texans of Mexican descent — identified as "Tejanos" since at least 1883 when leaders at Goliad used the term — have been part of Texas since before its founding. In days of old, Tejanos and Texians fought together to repel the Mexican tricolor of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
But the question is — would the illegal aliens of today, in a pinch, help to repel the Mexican army?
Or are they the invading army?
For now, VDARE.COM-reading Texans still know the difference between legal and illegal immigration — even if the Bush Administration does not.
Here are the Texans' comments, received since February 14, via e-mail:
From: Roger Chaillet [winner, VDARE.COM War Against Christmas 2003 Competition]
"Thanks for your Valentine’s Day VDARE.COM piece on Texas illegal immigration. BTW, I used to do construction work here in Dallas, Texas. It was during the summer of 1978. I did commercial roofing along with other whites, as well as blacks and Mexican-Americans. I fail to understand how Dallas or Houston could come to a ’standstill' if illegals were deported.
"As for the racial makeup of illegals, ask yourself, 'Why does George Bush focus only on illegal aliens from Mexico, and not, say, from Ireland or Haiti?'
"And your reader failed to mention the explosive rise in the murder rate here in Dallas. Just this morning another Mexican, probably an illegal, was murdered in the northern Dallas suburb of Lewisville. I drove through this part of Lewisville not more than an hour after the attack! Lewisville used to be a sleepy bedroom suburb.
"Last, property taxes have skyrocketed here in Texas to pay for the education of the American (sic) offspring of illegals.
"Why does the one Dallas letter writer fail to mention this?"
From: Burley Morris
"I am a Texan who has worked all over south Texas from the Trans Pecos to Raymondville, including McAllen, Laredo, El Paso, Pharr, Rio Grande City, Roma, Del Rio, Aguilares, Mission, Edinburg, Bruni, Falfurrias, Zapata, Briscoe Ranch, Bustamante, South Callaghan Ranch…
"In the late '60s Laredo was a small border cow town, population not more than 5-7 thousand. Now it approaches or exceeds 200,000. They are not all Tejanos, believe me, nor is the corridor from Laredo to Brownsville. It is wall-to-wall Mexican. Many are illegal.
"…The thing that your detractor leaves out is how it came to be that Texas became a nation — the settlers and Tejanos threw off Santa Anna’s dictatorship. They had settled under the Constitution of 1824, and when Santa Anna rescinded it, and declared himself dictator, they rebelled. Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, reimbursement was made to Mexico, plus additional later for southernmost parts of New Mexico and Arizona for railroad. Mexico ceded Texas and its former lands legally.
Aside from some missions in South central Texas, and San Antonio, the Mexican presence in the state was sparse. In fact, in 1848 there were more Germans in Texas than Mexicans.
"Needless to say there has been an enormous influx all along that border, with the weak enforcement (5+ % apprehensions or more average per year) for the last 35 years … Checkpoints were sparse, and there were many ways to get round them that I know of first-hand, without smuggling. In Texas Monthly magazine in the 1980s illegals were quoted – 'look out gringos, here we come, and there’s nothing you can do about it' — which is pretty descriptive.
"Many illegals say they are entitled to 'migrate' illegally, because it all used to be theirs. Some say they are reacquiring their former jurisdictions without firing a shot. There’s more ammo in: Lone Star Internet, Handbook of Texas Online, Jack Bauer — MexicanWar, Descendants of Mexican War Veterans, Hardin — Texian Iliad.
"Keep up the good work."
From: Paul Cornelius
"According to the portion of the email you reprinted from Frank Zamarripa, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Houston 'would come to a standstill' without illegals, and '[t]hey build all the houses and buildings, construct the roadways, run the hotels, the meat industry, the agriculture, the McDonalds, etc.'
"Were Dallas to come to a ’standstill,' as Frank suggests, I would be overjoyed. Indeed, the quality of life in this city and state would be 100 times better had Dallas come to a standstill 15 or 20 years ago.
What used to be an efficient, jewel of the Sunbelt two decades ago (when Dallas was called ’swiss' in its administration) has become just another corrupt, bankrupt, dirty, overcrowded, ward-dominated urban slum.
I plan on leaving the area as soon as family and work responsibilities allow it.
I was born and raised here, and it doesn’t even faintly resemble the city and area I grew up in during the 1960s.
"I live in Carrollton, a northwest suburb of Dallas. And here’s what Frank doesn’t tell you: Almost 90 percent of the reports of murders, carjackings, robberies, home invasions, and drunk driving related deaths are caused by people with 'Hispanic" names. And when the local news stations go to talk to relatives of both the victims and the perps, they almost always need a Spanish translator.
"Historically, Dallas' black parts of town, around Fair Park, along Gaston Avenue, and in Oak Cliff, have been responsible for most crimes. These days, it’s almost as much of a shock when a black commits a crime as when a White is responsible. Increasingly, blacks are even becoming equal opportunity victims of 'Hispanic' crime.
Make no mistake, almost all these 'Hispanics' are Mexicans. Hence, the constant news addendums that the police are looking for a ’suspect' who is 'presumed' to have 'fled to Mexico.'
"Otherwise, we can thank these Mexicans for the one or two shutdowns per year of local schools, due to a TB outbreak. The continual congestion of freeways, leading to more and more local roads being turned into toll-ways, and summer air pollution alerts that make breathing Dallas' air one of the most dangerous aspects of living here. We also now enjoy water shortages and rationing and a looming water crisis.
As for Mexicans manning the McDonalds, I don’t eat fast food and feel sorry for anyone who does so — risking God knows what diseases imported from Third World Mexico.
"Finally, Parkland Hospital, the city’s indigent care facility is on the verge of bankruptcy, as is the state’s Medicaid program, because of the influx of Mexican illegals and their 'anchor babies.'
And schools? Every two years, the state legislature must respond to the school funding 'crisis,' which is really a crisis in funding the education of illegals and their offspring.
Property taxes are skyrocketing and state services for elderly, disabled, and impoverished American CITIZENS being cut or ended, because 'the children' come first."
From: Pat Mason
"Funny how 'Mexican Americans' freely use the racial slurs of 'Gringo,' and 'Gueros,' while whining about how they're victims of 'racial discrimination' The hypocrisy is sickening. The great majority of those who identify themselves as 'Mexican Americans' divide their loyalties openly between Mexico and the United States.
There is no such animal as a hyphenated American. You're either Mexican, or American.
"Those 'Hispanics,' whatever that means, who claim to have won the right to be called 'patriotic' simply because they joined the U.S. military seem to have a strange sympathy for their 'comrades' illegally crossing the border.
Additionally, having served in the military doesn’t prove anything — especially that one is necessarily "patriotic." Most join the military as a means to an end (i.e. job training, college tuition grants, etc).
"I've seen many U.S. Army servicemen boarding planes in El Paso, Texas, speaking pure Spanish with each other. Could these soldiers be counted on to turn back an invading Mexican Army? One has to wonder.
If these soldiers so easily embrace the Spanish language over the native English tongue of the country they are supposed to be defending, how could any responsible commander put complete trust in these men to disregard their obvious strong sympathies with their race and culture to properly defend a different race and culture?
Change the words 'Mexican' and ’spanish' with 'Russian,' then answer the question."
Juan Mann is a lawyer and the proprietor of DeportAliens.com.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.