When we speak of amnesty we are speaking of illegal aliens from around the world - we should always keep that in mind.

Mexicans, however, get the most attention, largely because they are the most numerous, making up an estimated half of the population of illegal aliens. Furthermore, they are encouraged in their illegal presence here by their government. That is what makes the Mexican aspect of amnesty unique.

This photograph, taken at a march by illegal aliens in the United States who were demanding amnesty, sums it up rather well. There are other, similar. pictures around from other locations and times, so this is not an isolated instance. It reveals a mindset, of course.

Americans have never really understood the depth of outright historical animosity that Mexico has felt toward the United States since 1848, when the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican War. The U.S. wound up with all of California, Nevada, and Utah, and major parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona, and a piece of Wyoming. We bought the area for fifteen millions dollars, but Mexico was not exactly a willing seller - they had little choice.

For all practical purposes, it might well be said that Texas should be included in the territory lost to the U.S. in 1848, since it was the U.S. annexation of Texas as a state that led to the Mexican War. Texas had won its independence from Mexico in 1836.

So it's fair to say that there have been hard feelings in Mexico about the whole thing for over a century and a half.

In Mexico, Mexican history is taught, as one should expect, from a Mexican point of view. Their point of view is that the United States stole all that territory from them, and that is what's taught in school in Mexico. It is not surprising that a 2001 Zogby poll in Mexico revealed that 58% of Mexicans hold that belief, and 57% believe that Mexicans should have a right to enter the United States without U.S. permission.

So, they believe they have a right to be and remain here. No wonder they're marching and carrying the U.S. flag under the Mexican flag. To them, much of the U.S. should be Mexico.

And if some have their way, it will be. There has been a movement underway in Mexico and the United States for decades to take those areas back for Mexico. While it may seem crazy, you should not dismiss the idea. They aren't so crazy as to believe that it can be done by force of arms. But they are smart enough to realize that it might be done by population and political activity. The Mexican government is (and has been for decades) encouraging the departure of Mexicans to the U.S. but they are doing everything they can to make sure that Mexicans in the U.S. remain Mexicans at heart.

The following are quotes from a long article by Heather McDonald in the Autumn, 2005 edition of City Journal, a publication of the Manhattan Institute - they illustrate what's going on.

"Since 1990, Mexico has embarked on a series of initiatives to import Mexican culture into the U.S. Mexico’s five-year development plan in 1995 announced that the Mexican nation extends beyond . . . its border”—into the United States. Accordingly, the government would “strengthen solidarity programs with the Mexican communities abroad by emphasizing their Mexican roots, and supporting literacy programs in Spanish and the teaching of the history, values, and traditions of our country."”

 

"The current launching pad for these educational sallies is the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior. The IME directs several programs aimed at American schools. Each of Mexico’s 47 consulates in the U.S. (a number that expands nearly every year) has a mandate to introduce Mexican textbooks into schools with significant Hispanic populations. The Mexican consulate in Los Angeles showered nearly 100,000 textbooks on 1,500 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District this year alone."

And More . . .

"Mexico’s struggle to hold the hearts of its fleeing countrymen has worked. Mexican migrants have maintained a strong nationalism, exhibited through the “unfailing celebration of Mexican national, religious, and regional holidays, the conspicuous displays of patriotic symbols in Mexican neighborhoods and businesses, and in the low naturalization rate,” writes University of California professor Luis Eduardo Guarnizo. In the last decade, the rate of naturalization among legal Mexican immigrants did improve, in response to the 1996 welfare-reform law, which reduced welfare eligibility for non-citizen immigrants, and to Mexico’s authorization of dual nationality in 1998 (not exactly ideal motives for becoming citizens). The rate is still well below the immigrant norm, however. In 2001, just 34 percent of eligible Mexicans became citizens, compared with 58 percent of other Latin Americans, 67 percent of Asians, and 65 percent of Canadians and Europeans."

Anyone deeply interested in what's happening this respect should read the entire article.

It is clear that the Mexican government is carrying out political activity in this country to achieve amnesty for its people, but without having them surrender their sense of Mexican-ness in favor of being Americans. There's a reason for that: read about it here.