I don’t think there is any one way to “be an American”. I also don’t see any threat from Mexican immigrants remaining cultural Mexicans.
People immigrate to this country for all sorts of reasons, among others: (1) escaping political persecution (2) escaping poverty (3) greater economic opportunity (4) joining relatives already here and (5) enjoying/embracing the trappings of American citizenship. To me, these are all valid motivations.
But, of course, a person here with the sole intent of saving enough money to buy a house or farm back home probably won’t have much interest in becoming a cultural American.
Does that make their presence here invalid or harmful in some way?
As long as somebody is obeying the law (setting aside the question of illegal entry), I don’t have a problem with them defining their “American-ness” differently than I might define mine. How does their cultural approach devalue mine?
Plus, how could we even begin to define what counts as satisfactory “American-ness”? Making geographic or civic knowledge a requirement would eliminate a lot of native born Anglos, no doubt.
Aaron, where is the threat here?
