Texas Farmworkers Union head Antonio Orendain use to say that Mexicans were like cockroaches, no matter how much you tried you couldn't get rid of them. For those who have never lived in Texas, you might not fully appreciate the comparison, but those of us who live or have lived there understand that fighting those critters is a battle that will end when you go to your grave.
If Congressional Republican lawmakers understood this, they would hurry up and pass a true immigration reform bill in the House and finally settle the issue. For too long there have been those who believe that they can build fences, round-up Mexicans and punish employers and somehow eliminate what use to be called the "Mexican problem" in the 1930s. And yet, done repeatedly over the last 100 years, it has not worked though it has brought hardship to families and communities. To use an old Chicano slogan, "this is our land". Mexicans, Mexican Americans and their cousins the Latinos are native to this land, not because they were born here or their ancestors lived here--though they did in places like the Southwest--but because they "live the land".
They work the land, whether it is planting and picking the crops, cutting and canning them, slaughtering and cutting up animals, sweeping the blood or the dirt off the floors in the butcher shops and factories, trimming the trees, mowing the lawns, picking up the trash, designing the landscapes, erecting homes and office buildings, driving the school buses or tractor trailers, and policing the streets, or even manning the borders. Mexicans are doing those jobs that fewer and fewer white people are doing, and thus becoming more and more important to maintaining the pace of this country.
They are also upholding the traditions long held sacred in this land. When I was in McLean, Virginia a few years ago, it was obvious that in that affluent and liberal community the only ones that ate turkey during Thanksgiving were Latinos. And a few years ago, the overwhelming number of parents dressed up in Halloween costumes parading their trick or treating children through the Provo mall for candy were Mexicans and Latinos. And today, most American religions that are growing are doing so because their pews are filling up with Spanish-speakers. The Hispanic Evangelical Association is 15-million strong while the Mormons will soon be Latiino-majority, while most of the Catholics that go to church are Mexican and Latinos. And the last time I heard some form of tamales was replacing ham and turkey as the main dishes during the Holidays
There are many issues still to be resolved and the debate about what it will mean to have Mexicans--the vast majority of the Latino population--be such a dominant force in American society is still to be had, but it is an undisputable fact that they will be a powerful impact in the social and political landscape of the United States. The more conservative politicians resist this reality the greater the alienation of many of these Mexican Americans from mainstream society. The less they will believe in American ideals. No doubt that even in the best of situations this will happen given the historical prejudices this country has had against its neighbors from the south. But things could be worse.
Making 11 million Mexicans and Latinos permanent residents and then citizens will change American society only for the good. They are already here and they are "living the land" and the only thing that will change is that some of them and their kids will move up in the economic ladder and become leaders in this country. The bad is already here--they are illegal, break the law to survive, are an unknown population, and they are frustrated. Fixing their status will resolve much of this. It won't make things worse.
Will it bring more of them? Probably, but not in the numbers we have seen in the past. There aren't enough Central Americans in the world to fill up New York City, and in Mexico the demographics are changing in such a manner that the country will soon start needing every worker to maintain its own society. The reality is that the anti-immigration solutions came too late and they soon won't have a problem to solve.
The coming Mexican reality is already changing the way we see our history as Chicano historians are expanding our knowledge of the West, agriculture, unionization, military history, and the law. We are discovering that Mexicans and their Mexican American cousins are responsible for many of our policies and laws even if they were simply made to keep them at bay. More important, the history of Mexicans and Latinos is obliverating the notion of a black/white history as the only dominant narrative of our past.
The Latino voter has become the big prize in American politics, and their children will one day dominate the political offices in certain parts of the country. Many Mexican Americans are simply Americans who have been left out of the mainstream of this country both by government policies and by their own resistance to entering the mainstream devoid of their culture and way of looking at things.
While Mexican Americans are not a panacea for what ails American society they do provide a sense of hope for a society that seems to have lost its ability to pass laws, to respect its neighbors, that is gun-obsessed, is becoming childless, and which has trouble dealing with its history. American society has been refreshed periodically by immigrant "waves" and never before has American society been in need of a "refreshing" then now.
Congressional Republicans may yet block any resolution to our "immigration problem" this year but they will not write the final chapter on the Latino-ization of this country. It will happen sooner or later and it is best that it occurs now. Maybe Mexicans will finally outlive the cockroach. Maybe not.
