why is it that only mexicans are viewed as being illegal immigrants and not other natinoalities?

Question

this is my thesis question to essay on stereotypes.

Answer 1

I expand on a point already made. Mexico is now and has for generations incited their State Sponsored Invasion of the U.S. Mexico's latest motivation to their people was a government printed comic type instruction manual on how to infiltrate the U.S. many pictures and simple words it was obviously not geared for their doctors or engineers.
Consider that ALL others from south of the border are lumped into a single group, Other Than Mexican, which is barely 10% of this group.

Answer 2

It's just that recently there have been such a huge number of Mexicans illegally immigrating. They bear children here, and then get to stay and go on welfare.

Statistics PROVE this, so there is no question about it.

If I were you, I'd look for something else to write about, or perhaps phrase it a little differently.

One of my husband's ancestors immigrated illegally from Canada, as a matter of fact. The family joke is that he was "frostback." Yahoo doesn't put asterisks in place of that word, like they do the one that starts with a "w"....

Yes, it is quite possible for people to immigrate illegally from other countries. But the ones at our borders are the most likely and frequent, since it is much easier to sneak across dry land than it is to swim an ocean. LOL

And Canada seems to be able to stay within their allowed quota, although there are certainly plenty of legal immigrants coming from there.

Answer 3

At first I didn't understand your question, then read the small print about stereotypes. At the present time, the crisis with illegal immigration from Mexico is in the news and is widespread throughout the media and political discussion. Almost no one mentions illegals from other countries. There is also a much greater number of people crossing the border from Mexico than there are other foreign groups entering the country in other ways. People are smuggled into America every day from China, Africa, Russia, and many other countries, but it is done in secret and doesn't make the front page of the paper. Mexican illegal immigration is blatant, not hidden, and there is very little in the manner of consequences as yet.

Answer 4

Bound's hubby, the teacher, here:

Academically, this is a very good, but inflamatory thesis! Perhaps it is the inflammation that makes it a good thesis!

The fact that we perceive most illegal immigrants to be Mexican is a stereotype. First, Canadian illegal immigrants are not an issue, because the quality of life north of our border is significantly better than the quality of life south of our border. Second, by virtue of the physical barriers to illegal entry, there are fewer illegal immigrants from Asia and points beyond.

We perceive most illegals to be Mexican for several reasons:
1) A greater number of illegals cross the Mexican border than the Canadian border.
2) The majority of illegals that cross the Mexican border are either of Hispanic background, or are Spanish-speaking from any number of Latin American countries.
3) We presume that the illegals entering across the Mexican border are Mexican, and rarely consider point of origin to be countries south of Mexico.

Answer 5

i am against illegal immigration i don't care where your from but like everyone has stated the fact is most are from mexico and they wanted to be the face of this debate marching in the streets claiming this is their land and that they have rights and they turn around and act surprised when people respond

if everyone in your class is doing a thesis on this subject if i was you i would give the other side . how about one on how people who are against illegal immigration and who want border security and legal immigration are labeled racist that stereotype thing is a two way street

Answer 6

This is only an opinion so I hope no one gets bent out of shape. I am Mexican-American by the way and proud to be. As I play amateur sociologist this is my observation. Mexicans and Hmongs are viewed to be the lowest of the low as far as cultural supremecy goes. I think we are all equal in capabilities, but I come to this conclusion because it is few and far between that I hear Americans say good things about us. Tighten the borders and send them all back and much more hateful things I've read even on Yahoo! Answers. Even our lawmakers today passed a bill to tighten the barrier at the border. People don't forget that we have illegal immigrants here from all over the world, but the one's they dislike the most are their neighbors. That's just my opinion based on observation of things I see and read on the news and on the net and in everyday life.

Answer 7

Well, I hate to knock holes in your thesis, but most people are 'equal opportunity' on illegal immigration, meaning it doesn't matter what country they come from, if they're in OUR country illegally, it's no good, mexican, martian, rhodesian, or otherwise.

The reason Mexico reaches such prominence on the issue is by sheer force of numbers. Estimates vary, but an educated guess places the number of illegal aliens that enter from Mexico into the United States ANNUALLY north of 500k, and that's not counting the sea of people that gets turned back each year, that's just the ones that make it.


America's not the 'wide open frontier' it was in the 19th century.
Those days are dead and gone, but we've yet to take a solid 21st century stance on dealing with illegal immigration. Nor is illegal immigration solely an american problem, if you read the news, countries around the world are having problems with the same issue. People from poor countries are making the trek to countries that are a little better off financially because their home countries in some cases have fallen apart completely, and they have no future. OTHER countries, that are actually doing 1/2way ok, but know they can yank our heart strings and have money come cascading out, capitalize on our historic generosity to enrich themselves.

And, if you top it all off with what we've seen in the news over the years, the whole business just stinks. We're at the point with this where we're being exploited, and our 'representation' has played along with it for entirely too long. We've had poverty for years in america, too, but feeding poor tots in appalachia doesn't play nearly as well as feeding them off in africa or something, I guess.
If we wanna help others, that's fine, there's something called 'foreign aid' to accomplish that with. But first, you need to deliniate between 'domestic' and 'foreign', and that usually means common recognition of something called a 'border', kind of like Sesame Street, 'inside', and 'outside'. When domestic policy BECOMES foreign policy because no one's enforced immigration law for 20 years, which is about on the money since the '86 amnesty, there's a problem, and good luck trying to budget for that etc.

We need a dose of realism on this, and other countries need to do a heck of a lot better in tending the needs of their own people.
There's laws, they need to be followed, if not followed then enforced, and there's general principles that it wouldn't hurt to occasionally follow, either. Globalization sure sounds nice, but it dodges the 'bullet' of reality by making ne'er-do-well countries no longer responsible for their own failings. We can help screwed-up countries, but we'll only be effective after they've first made the decision to start trying to help themselves, and by 'try', I don't mean like an 8-year-old 'trying' to clean his room, but rather
wholehearted development efforts that run independently of any help from america, and then maybe we loan em some money or whatever.
.
Some things, you just have to do for yourself....can't nobody do it for you...

Answer 8

I truly believe that their is a strong racist element going on this issue. Mexicans are more visible and are the majority of one ethnicity that are entering the US illegally. I once knew 5 or 6 Russians, a Britain and an Irishman who were illegal. I helped them to apply for amnesty the last time around. Not an easy task by any means.

Answer 9

They aren't but one has to talk about what one encounters in their daily life.I live in AZ so to us in this border state the illegal is from Mexico.Most Hispanics of other Latin cultures tend to go to the west coast or the east coast.The influx of illegals into our state has caused problems of catastrophic proportions.Taxing all of our public programs,and depleting our city's and state resources.In AZ its not a generalization or a stereotype its a fact.

Sorry to disappoint you but here in AZ the people from Canada are not a problem,unless you want to count all the snowbirds in their million dollar RVs that come here for the winter.And they are all just visiting ,they spend their money.We don't have any rich RV gangs to worry about and then they go back to Canada.

How can it be racist to tell the truth.I speak Spanish,I'm not ignorant and I know the facts from the US government and the ICE. I'm a realist and our problem in the border
states are illegals from Mexico.

Answer 10

It is because most illegals are Mexican. But by no means are they alone. Many from Central American and Asia are illegals. Until recently there was a heavy flow of Irish to the USA but that has reversed and even some who returned to Ireland.