Mexicans: Mexican-Americans Owe Loyalty
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| Sat, 10-17-2009 - 11:27pm |
Poll: Mexicans say Mexican-Americans Owe Loyalty to Mexico Over U.S.
Nearly 70 percent of Mexicans surveyed said that Mexican-Americans – including those born in the United States – owe their primary loyalty to Mexico, not the U.S., according to a Zogby poll commissioned by the Center for Immigration Studies.
The in-person poll, taken during August and September, sampled 1,004 Mexicans across the country on subjects related to illegal immigration and amnesty in the United States.
When asked “Should the primary loyalty of Mexican-Americans be to Mexico or to the U.S.?†68.8 percent of respondents in Mexico said that it should be to Mexico, while only 19.7 percent said it should be to the United States. Another 11.5 percent of respondents said they were not sure.
Steven Camarota, director of research at the CIS, told CNSNews.com that the Spanish phrase translated as “Mexican-Americans†(“los estadounidenses de origen mexicanoâ€) was carefully selected to ensure that respondents knew that it included those born in the U.S. He particularly stressed the Spanish word ‘estadounidenses.’
“It means ‘United States-ian’ — (that’s) how it translates,†he said, “and it’s understood by everyone in Mexico to include, clearly, people born in the United States of Mexican ancestry.â€
Camarota also told CNSNews.com that just over one-third of respondents (36 percent) said that they would come to the U.S., if they could. Of that group, 68 percent said they think that Mexican-Americans owe loyalty to Mexico over the United States.

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Yes, that is pretty much my perspective as well. I have met people who were out to scam the system, in all the countries where I have lived. But the vast majority, IME at least, were NOT the immigrants.
Your point about cost of food and services is an important one. It is a problem in the agricultural sector here too. We simply do not have the people willing to do the work at the wages the farmers can afford and still stay competitive. So, here too, illegals flow in.
well i can sorta understand the immigrants feeling loyalty to Mexico but their children should feel loyalty to the U.S.
here is my reasoning. i live in Greece. i am not Greek and i dont feel Greek. i have assimilated into the culture by learning to speak fluently and i dress similar to them as well. i would never expect a Greek person to speak English with me because i am a guest in their country. BUT...i am loyal to the U.S. i love my country and i miss my country and i cry every time i return to Athens after Vacation in MN. i route for the American team in the Olympics and i speak English with my baby so he will have some of my culture.
My baby on the other hand will be loyal to Greece because this will be the only home he will ever know. He will speek Greek, dress Greek, have Greek friends...he will be Greek because this is where he was born.
i think people are loyal to where they consider home.
"...really it is the companies/people that employ them that are taking huge advantage of them as well. (I also don't see anyone willing to pony up $20 a pound for apples either.)"
Exactly.
I've worked with Mexican nationals, legal as far as
The polling surveyed Mexicans in Mexico about their thoughts and opinions. It didn't survey immigrants. Not surprisingly, the respondents as a majority, said that emigrants from Mexico to the U.S., even those born in the U.S., owed their first loyalties to Mexico.
If we were asked, here in the U.S., about what country should be paramount for you and your son, am guessing that there would be at least equal numbers saying that both your first loyalties and those of your son should be to the U.S. rather than Greece. Maybe even more overwhelming numbers than those in the Mexican poll.
The poll was commissioned by an organization which has a strong nativist agenda and not a whole lot of sympathy to opening up the U.S. to greater immigration from Mexico. For more, see: http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/2362258/posts
I suspect that the same organization is seeking influence on policy makers to lower quotas even further, thus ensuring that an even greater proportion of immigrants fall into the "illegal" category; and making it easier to rile up public sentiment and deport the "illegal aliens". In the name of national racial purity and all that wretched stuff. Motive matters.
Jabberwocka
"...yet many illegal immigrants fearful of deportation won't risk the government attention that will come from filing a return even if they might qualify for a refund."
I think this may be more the case than people suspect.. just an opinion.
Yes, it became a fairly new thing because of the surge of poor immigrants into the country over the last decade. Had EMA not been put into place, hospitals would have gone under, especially those in the southern and western states.
I am, by no means, against immigration. I do, however, believe that we MUST have rules and we must have quotas. I am not a racist. I don't care where they come from, but we can't burden ourselves with more people when we aren't even able to take care of what we have now.
I agree with you that immigration should be controlled and regulated, as I hope I have made clear in other posts.
OTOH, I am not convinced that even the current levels of illegal immigration have an overall negative effect on the economy and the services you mention. Having lived in areas with lots of immigrants (LA and NYC), I do understand how it can look as if the system is becoming overwhelmed by immigrants. However, IMO, the problems of unchecked immigration are different ones, but no less serious all the same.
If one lives in a country, they should be loyal to that country.
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