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Hispanic Growth in the Southeast


Mith242

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I originally posted this in the Arkansas forum, but since this seems to becoming common through the southeast I wanted to also post it here also. I tried taking out most of the local Arkansas references so it applied more to the southeast as a whole.

To start things off I wanted to mention a current event that is becoming more frequent, the Minuteman Movement. In case you haven't heard anything about this yet, it started a little under a year ago in Arizona. People were concerned the Homeland Security and US Government weren't doing enough to stop illegal immigration. This has become a popular movement and is now spreading into other areas of the US. Most recently into the southeast. As far as I know it hasn't happened in my home state of Arkansas yet but figure it's probably just a matter of time. basically it boils down to people are taking things into their own hands and trying to stop illegal immigrants. There is a problem with immigration here in the US and so far this doesn't sound too bad. But the problem is how things are being done. Maybe this doesn't apply to every Minuteman group but this seems to be how it works in many of them. They stop people or even pull them over in their vehicles to check their papers. First of all this really runs into the racial profiling for one thing. But you're pretty much having people take the law into their own hands holding these people until their local law agency responds. This in my opinion is setting a very bad precedent. I understand people are frustrated with the immigration problem and they don't think the government isn't doing a good enough job. If people are suspicious and then reported their info to the government or local law officials would be one thing but to start making decisions on your own is another. If you set this sort of precedent where are you going to draw the line? If someone broke a law in my community and I don't have enough faith in my local law agency to handle the situation. Does this give the right to go take things into my own hands? What if I have good reason to believe such and such person might be a child molester and/or into child pornography. Does that give me the right to break into that person's house and maybe computer to find evidence myself? I know these people are probably just trying to help but I really don't think you can allow these people to take the law into their own hands. The government has been put in an awkward position. They appreciate people taking an interest and trying to help but have stated that people can to hand info or give a head's up but should not take the law into their own hands. Turn over your info to trained law enforcement.

This also has racial implications here in the south of course. A lot of people in the south have seen stricking similarities between rhetoric and methods used against Afro-Americans in the south back in the 60's. Apparently many people didn't learn anything about our racial problems not that long ago here in the south. There are already people not making much distinction between illegal immigrants and the hispanic community as a whole. Some people fear some of these Minutemen are spreading misinformation and terrorizing ethnic neighborhoods here in the south. How do you keep these groups from turning into hate groups? Will this turn into the new KKK? Are we going to have to go through what we did in the 60's all over again? If you aren't familiar with any of my posts I am not hispanic and will not hide the fact that I do take a more positive view of the hispanic community. No matter if you do or don't like the hispanic growth going on in the US, this is a very dangerous precedent to be setting.

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Touchy subject but I will respond anyway. I live in Raleigh, NC and here the hispanic population has like tripled since the mid 90's. It seems like in almost all fast food joints, mcdonalds etc. (x-cept for the fried chicken places) and construction crews hispanics make up the majority of the work force. Then in certain areas of town they have congregated. But for the most part it's not causing too much of a problem.

The only thing that I hear in conversation a lot is the fact that many immigrants are living in apartments with like 20 people to a dwelling, Violating all kinds of codes, not to mention they don't pay taxes like the rest of us. That and that they can't drive, so be careful with your car because they if you are hit they most likely will not have insurance.

I wish the government would do more to ebb the inflow, it's starting to tax our infrastructure. If you ask me the country may need to focus away from the middle east and focus a bit more on it's on borders. It is a bit out of control. Just build a great wall or something.

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Well at least I've gotten a response. I'm not trying to be critical because I am glad I have gotten someone to respond. But I think people tend to confuse the whole group of hispanics with illegal immigrants. I'm not sure if people are aware there are a very large amount of legal hispanic immigrants. I also think that building a wall at the border is a bit unpractical not to mention an outrageously expensive project. But even if you were to find a way to cut off illegal immigrants I'm not sure if people still understand some of the implications going on. Hispanics tend to have a much higher birth rate than other Americans. There has been a lot of talk of a 'new south'. One aspect whether people like it or not is a larger hispanic influence. Will the south be ready for a new multicultural society? So far I'm not quite so sure that much of the south is ready. After all the problems the south had with Afro-American back in the 60's we almost seem ready to start all that over again with hispanics this time. I guess it's harder for people to deal with because it's happened relatively quickly. I believe North Carolina and Arkansas had the top two highest percentage growth for hispanics in the 90's. Anyway I am curious to see anyone else's response to this.

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In Charlotte the latino Cummunity has prapoblly tripled. There are communitys with nothing but latinos especially in east charlotte around central ave and eastway. I know alot of illegal immagrants staying around this area they have been reported by my neighbors but nothing ever happens.

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Just out of curiousity what makes you think that they are illegal. I'm not saying I doubt you or anything. But I have sometimes noticed tendencies for 'anglos' to make assumptions about latinos. I have had some of my friends surprised with some latinos who they thought were from Mexico but who were actually born and raised in the US. This is a new think for the southeast but something that the border states have been dealing with quite a while. But yes there are illegal immigrants here in the US. I'm just curious does anyone support the Minuteman movement? Does anyone think that this is the best way to deal with this? I guess I'm also curious does everyone makes distinctions between illegal immigrants and hispanics in general?

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minorities will be the majority by 2050...america's face is really changing

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Yes but if you add all the minorities together. But the whites/anglos or whatever you want to call them will still be the largest single group.

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Just out of curiousity what makes you think that they are illegal.  I'm not saying I doubt you or anything.  But I have sometimes noticed tendencies for 'anglos' to make assumptions about latinos.  I have had some of my friends surprised with some latinos who they thought were from Mexico but who were actually born and raised in the US.  This is a new think for the southeast but something that the border states have been dealing with quite a while.  But yes there are illegal immigrants here in the US. I'm just curious does anyone support the Minuteman movement?  Does anyone think that this is the best way to deal with this?  I guess I'm also curious does everyone makes distinctions between illegal immigrants and hispanics in general?

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The Minuteman Project should be praised. These people are standing up to illegal immigration, which is primarily from Mexico, and promoting the entrance into America the way it should be- LEGALLY. Illegal aliens pay no taxes and yet they collect social security and use our medical system for free and obtain our drivers licences, etc. costing the real taxpayers lots of money.

This is the best way to seal with the problem until the Fed steps up to do its job. But this proabbly won't happen anytime soon. I hope that this movement contimues to get more support.

http://www.minutemanhq.com/

I have no use for illegal aliens. If we have some sort of economy built on them, then it is a false one, and it should be rectified. I gladly welcome legal immigrants.

I believe that much of the animosity is because they are illegal. I personally like them. They have excellent cuisine :)

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The Minuteman Project should be praised. These people are standing up to illegal immigration, which is primarily from Mexico, and promoting the entrance into America the way it should be- LEGALLY. Illegal aliens pay no taxes and yet they collect social security and use our medical system for free and obtain our drivers licences, etc. costing the real taxpayers lots of money.

This is the best way to seal with the problem until the Fed steps up to do its job. But this proabbly won't happen anytime soon. I hope that this movement contimues to get more support.

http://www.minutemanhq.com/

I have no use for illegal aliens. If we have some sort of economy built on them, then it is a false one, and it should be rectified. I gladly welcome legal immigrants.

I believe that much of the animosity is because they are illegal. I personally like them. They have excellent cuisine :)

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The Minuteman Project is the brightest news I've heard regarding the immigration crisis. Hey, if the federal government refuses to enforce its own laws, at least some some of the citizens have enough courage and pride to do what their own government won't. Have we as Americans gotten so spineless that we are afraid to do what is right and in our best interest because it's not politically correct? The financial burden on state governments is unbearable, and it's only getting worse. Let's stop treating this issue with kid gloves, illegal aliens are criminals and need to be treated as such. Also, let's not be so foolish to as to always play the card that they're not all illegals. No kidding, but this shouldn't stop us in anyway from dealing with the 20 million illegals estimated to be in the country already. To put that in perspective, the state of Arkansas has only around 2.7 million people!

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I live in Orlando where there are a large number of illegals and and even larger number of Hispanics. The environment here is a lot dofferent from where I am from (Central Virginia). Let me make it clear that I do not have a problem with Hispanics. I believe that most are hard workin, honest Americans. But, I believe that illegal immigration needs to be addressed by Federal, State, and Local Governments. It is not that illegals from Mexico are a threat to society, it is the idea that someone that is not supposed to be here can sneak over. This is not about Mexican illegals, it is about terroist sneaking in through our sothern borders. But on the other hand, by living in Central Florida, I see how illegal contribute to society. There is a large number of workers on construction sites that are here illegally. But if they were not here, our housing shortage would be twice as bad causing prices to rise even more.

What I am trying to say is that breaking the law is breaking the law, but we need to address why citizens and government are hesitant to do something about it. In theory what the Minutemen are doing is not that bad. But in reality, I am concerned that one of them make take it too far. They are not trained law enforcement officials, and may not have the restraint that trained officers have. I believe that the best way to address these issues is for the citizens to demand that Congress make a bi-partisan effort instead of being afraid to anger the Hispanic voting population. This is one issue where political correctness hurts the majority (majority being legals and citizens).

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Informants?  Guys - the Minutemen sound a little scary in my view- a bit too much like '1984' or Nazi Germany, turning your neighbor in.  The extreme of this would be some vigilante movement - though likely not 'officialy endorsed'.

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Exactly, I'm not saying people should like illegal immigrants or anything. But seriously, this can really have bad implecations in the future. If these people want to do more about this illegal immigrant policy this isn't the way to do it. What if a group like this started because they didn't think enough was being done about child pornography. How would you feel if a group of people show up at your house and wanted you to prove that you didn't have any? Even if you knew you absolutely had none on your computer and so on, would you still like the idea of someone who weren't official law agents showing up at your door telling you that you had to prove to them? I mean where are you going to draw the line?

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I suppose some of this depends on where you might live also. It seems to me certain areas probably are less likely to be happy about the hispanic influx in general. I live in northwest Arkansas, unemployment has been around 3% for the last decade. Many companies were having a hard time filling factory jobs because there weren't enough people that wanted them. That and when you have such low unemployment people don't also stay at jobs because they know there are plenty of other jobs to go after. So in my area hispanics don't seem to be viewed as negatively than maybe in other areas. Now I could see if an area had high unemployment and they might feel hispanics and illegal immigrants were taking jobs away from 'real' Americans. I also think some people welcomed hispanics because it added ethnic diversity to my area. Being a part of the Ozarks it wasn't long ago that this area was around 95% white. It's been a problem bringing in highly qualified people into this area for jobs because many people felt this area was simply too 'white' and didn't have any ethnic diversity at all. I guess I'd also be curious to what other areas like the border states think of all this. Since they've had to deal with the hispanic influx a lot longer than anyone else.

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The Minuteman Project should be praised. These people are standing up to illegal immigration, which is primarily from Mexico, and promoting the entrance into America the way it should be- LEGALLY. Illegal aliens pay no taxes and yet they collect social security and use our medical system for free and obtain our drivers licences, etc. costing the real taxpayers lots of money.

This is the best way to seal with the problem until the Fed steps up to do its job. But this proabbly won't happen anytime soon. I hope that this movement contimues to get more support.

http://www.minutemanhq.com/

I have no use for illegal aliens. If we have some sort of economy built on them, then it is a false one, and it should be rectified. I gladly welcome legal immigrants.

I believe that much of the animosity is because they are illegal. I personally like them. They have excellent cuisine :)

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I don't think it's a simple as if you're against illegal immigrants you have to like the Minuteman Project. Some of these groups are on the verge of being hate groups against hispanics. I don't see how this should be praised at all. I think this was something that looked good on paper and was a nice idea but is being carried out in a bad manner. It's one thing to Check people coming over the border in Arizona and another to stop every hispanic person you see in every other part of the country. It just seems to me that you are setting a bad precendent for any future vigalante actions. How do you keep these groups from people who are trying to do good to becoming groups of people of hatred towards hispanics? I'm not saying nothing needs to be done about illegal immigration, I just don't think this is the right way to go about it.

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Comparing this to Nazi Germany is way out of line. These are citizens who are simply enforcing the laws on the books, and the illegals are criminals. This comparison gets thrown around too much today, and not only is it not part of an honest discussion, but it trivializes what happened under the Nazi regime.

Some of these groups are on the verge of being hate groups against hispanics.
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The United States indicted WalMart and/or some of its execs for hiring illegal aliens.

If WalMart has a difficult time filling its positions, the solution is to increase wages to attract those employees, not to hire illegals.

The only real solution to the "Minuteman" vigilantes is to insist that the federal government enforce the immigration laws on the books.

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I would say this is what the people involved with the Minuteman Project should do. Try to get the government to enforce immigration laws, not take the law into their own hands. I suppose trying to do it yourself seems more rewarding than trying to deal with government and trying to get politicians to emphasize thses laws.

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I would say this is what the people involved with the Minuteman Project should do.  Try to get the government to enforce immigration laws, not take the law into their own hands.  I suppose trying to do it yourself seems more rewarding than trying to deal with government and trying to get politicians to emphasize thses laws.

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On the political right, you have big corporate interests that love the cheap employees. On the political left, you have politicians who ignore their base in labor in hopes that creating "open immigration" will increase their standing with Hispanics.

Interesting--I lived in Houston in the late 80's. There was a statewide poll--the Texas Poll--conducted by major Texas newspapers which showed that the most opposition to illegal immigration came from legal Hispanic Texas residents.

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On the political right, you have big corporate interests that love the cheap employees.  On the political left, you have politicians who ignore their base in labor in hopes that creating "open immigration" will increase their standing with Hispanics.

Interesting--I lived in Houston in the late 80's.  There was a statewide poll--the Texas Poll--conducted by major Texas newspapers which showed that the most opposition to illegal immigration came from legal Hispanic Texas residents.

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That is interesting, but I think I see why. These illegal immigrants are the poorest of the poor in Mexico. I think other hispanics think they portray all hispanics in a bad light. In New Mexico there are people who refer to themselves as hispanos. Some of which can trace their hispanic ancestry back to some of the original Spanish settlers back in the 1600's. They obviously are much different than these 'new' hispanics that are coming over now.

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Some mexicans still think most of  western us belongs to them and we just stole it.

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Well in a sense we basically did. We did pretty much pick on a weaker country to get more land for the 'manifest destiny'. back then the US pretty much acted like a lot od European countries, almost setting up a little mini empire. I don't recall us really having any real justifiable reasons for why we went to war. But to be honest that was a long time ago. Besides most countries are going to have a lot of claims like that. Guatemala feels part of southern Mexico was 'stolen' from them too. This has happened quite a bit in South America too.

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Well, let's see.

The US stole Mexico. Mexico stole from Spain. Spain stole it from the Native Americans.

I don't think anyone has a moral claim to the Southwest US aside from the natives.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Charlotte's hispanic population went up 628% since 1985!!!!! I found it on a website but can't remember it. Soon Charlotte will be at least 15% Hispanic. But I'm not complaining. This issue doesn't bother me, I think America could use a little more diversity. That's why I like Charlotte and Atlanta!

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Well, let's see.

The US stole Mexico.  Mexico stole from Spain.  Spain stole it from the Native Americans.

I don't think anyone has a moral claim to the Southwest US aside from the natives.

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What did Mexico steal from Spain? They declared their independence from a colonial govt. You might as well accuse the American colonies of stealing from Great Britain.

The mexican war was on the other hand a pretty opportunistic land grab by the us. but i agree it's a little late in the day to use that as a justification for anything.

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