What country am I in? (Denver: lofts, home, elementary school)

[MrTransplant]

I recently moved to the Denver area from northern Iowa, and find myself constantly wondering what country I'm in. Is this Mexico or the United States of the America? I see written spanish everywhere, and cannot go anywhere without hearing spanish. I've heard Mayor Hickenlooper's policies are very friendly towards illegal immigrants, is this true? If so, why?

[Rawlings]

Originally Posted by Newdenverite

I recently moved to the Denver area from northern Iowa, and find myself constantly wondering what country I'm in. Is this Mexico or the United States of the America? I see written spanish everywhere, and cannot go anywhere without hearing spanish. I've heard Mayor Hickenlooper's policies are very friendly towards illegal immigrants, is this true? If so, why?

It's true that Chickenlooper's M.O. is amnesty--won't disagree with that. He is so embracing of illegal immigrants because the city he is trying to build is reliant upon cheap labor. He's building fancy lofts catering to an elite crowd. That's taking the middle class and casting them out of the city leaving an upper crust and lower class. The lower class is filled mostly with immigrants who serve the elites and so Chickenlooper needs 'em by truckload.

With that said, I don't think the problem is really that bad. Colorado has a tradition of large Hispanic communities and it has always made the state richer for it. The only problem I have is that the immigrants are wrapping themselves into a ghetto, not learning English, and not even trying so much as to assimilate. That's changing, though, I think.

Iowa is about as vanilla as you get. So pretty much anywhere else you move you're going to feel a little claustrophobic.

[Katiana]

You are still in the US; it's just a different version of the US than Iowa. I love the Spanish influence. The Hispanic population is hard-working. If you have kids, they wil be required to study the Hispanic influence in Coloradoin elementary school. Of course it is necessary to learn English to "make it" in this country, even if you work in the McDonald's drive-through. A lot of immigrants speak Spanish at home; that is no different from the way my mother grew up in Wisconsin speaking German at home and English on the "outside". She, her parents, and some of her grandparents were born in the US.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by Newdenverite

I recently moved to the Denver area from northern Iowa, and find myself constantly wondering what country I'm in. Is this Mexico or the United States of the America? I see written spanish everywhere, and cannot go anywhere without hearing spanish. I've heard Mayor Hickenlooper's policies are very friendly towards illegal immigrants, is this true? If so, why?

I think this poster is trolling for yet another illegal immigration thread for the umpteenth time -- best not to feed the trolls.

[jazzlover]

Illegal immigration is a big problem in all of the West and Colorado is no exception. Rawlings is right, a lot of aliens (illegal or otherwise) are working in jobs that good ol' American Anglos are just "too good" to take. I am an absolute opponent of illegal immigration, but those people are coming here because there are jobs that Americans refuse to do that they will. In many ways, that is a sad commentary on us.

You shouldn't confuse the Hispanic immigrants (legal or otherwise) with the Hispanic Coloradans who can trace their heritage back generations here, some to prior to statehood. And, if you look at a map of Colorado, essentially everything south of the Arkansas River and most all of western Colorado was part of Mexico until 1848. Look at all of the Spanish place names in Colorado, including the name of the state itself.

Go find yourself some good green chile enchiladas to eat and call it good . . . Until the Feds get their act together and figure out that a porous border with Mexico is not a good thing, the problem is going to persist.