Mexican Immigration and its Potential Impact on the Political Future of the United States

By Yeh Ling-Ling
Yeh Ling-Ling is the executive director of Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America.
Published in the Winter 2004 issue of The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, Volume 29 Number 4

Synopsis

The following article reinforces the position of Harvard Professor Samuel P. Huntington, Chairman of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, who wrote in 2004 in “The Hispanic Challenge”, published in “Foreign Policy”: “…. Mexican immigration differs from past immigration and most other contemporary immigration due to a combination of six factors: contiguity, scale, illegality, regional concentration [in the American Southwest], persistence, and historical presence …. Demographically, socially, and culturally, the reconquista (re-conquest) of the Southwest United States by Mexican immigrants is well underway…. No other immigrant group in U.S. history has asserted or could assert a historical claim to U.S. territory. Mexicans and Mexican Americans can and do make that claim….”

The article describes the strategy and tactics the Mexican government is using — in concert with political activists of Mexican descent in the United States, ranging from high-level elected officials to scholars, organization leaders, and students, as well as immigration lobbies — to influence the American political process and policies. The crucial issues involved include the viability of our border.

Extensive quotes, provided to illuminate the serious problem, are cited from a broad spectrum of individuals here and in Mexico, all of Mexican descent: the political elite in Mexico, such as former and current presidents of Mexico, the former head of Mexico’s National Security Council and personal strategist to President Vicente Fox, former and current Mexican officials in charge of border issues, former and current speakers of the California State Assembly, U.S. Congressmen, numerous scholars, and organization leaders. Lobbying activities by Mexican government officials and their Mexican American allies as well as data from the U.S. Census Bureau pertaining to the explosive Mexican population increase in this country are also considered.

The author hopes to encourage public debate and stimulate a more cogent evaluation of the potential long-term political and other consequences of rapidly growing, large-scale Mexican immigration and yet another amnesty for those who have come into the United States illegally.

This is well worth the read….you can read the rest of Ling-Ling’s paper here.