Who Is A Mexican? (housing, residential, retire, office)

[Agnapostate]

What are Mexicans' opinions of the ethnic identification of so-called "Mexican-Americans"?

Since the status of being Mexican is a nationality, not truly hereditary (contrary to the mistaken beliefs of many people in the U.S.), identification as "Mexican" seems arbitrary and pointless for Mexican-Americans, particularly past the third generation.

The Plan of Iguala, created shortly after Mexican independence, stated that, "All the inhabitants of New Spain, without any distinction between Europeans, Africans, nor Indians, are citizens of this Monarchy with option to all employment depending on their merit and virtues."

I know that this plan was superseded by the transformation of Mexico into a republic, but was there not a similar clause of citizenship or nationality in one or more of the plans created after this?

If Mexican status were considered hereditary, would this not technically include the descendants of many of the Anglo settlers of Texas, as well as Native Americans of the Southwest? That seems to dilute the concept beyond any meaning.

[axixic2]

I think it's anyone born within Mexican sovereignty and anyone who is born to a Mexican parent, as is citizenship also obtained in the U.S.

I had relatives born in Texas when it was Mexico but I was told in order to get a Mexican passport, it only extends as far back as one's grandparents. The Texas/Mexican link is too far back for any descendants to be Mexican.

People can become Mexican citizens through naturalization but only Mexicans born within Mexico can run for public office. Unlike the U.S. that only disallows a naturalized citizen from being president all Mexican politicians must be born in Mexico.

Mexico has changed its naturalization laws and it's very easy to become a citizen now.

[mexguy]

Originally Posted by axixic2

I think it's anyone born within Mexican sovereignty and anyone who is born to a Mexican parent, as is citizenship also obtained in the U.S.
I had relatives born in Texas when it was Mexico but I was told in order to get a Mexican passport, it only extends as far back as one's grandparents. The Texas/Mexican link is too far back for any descendants to be Mexican.

It's right.

Mexican-Americans third-generation are more Americans than Mexicans, many do not even speak Spanish. Sure they can get their Mexican Nationality by their grandparents or parents but most are not interested in become mexicans.

[axixic2]

Originally Posted by mexguy

It's right.

Mexican-Americans third-generation are more Americans than Mexicans, many do not even speak Spanish. Sure they can get their Mexican Nationality by their grandparents or parents but most are not interested in become mexicans.

If they travel they would rather have a Mexican passport than a U.S. passport. I know one man in Texas who became a U.S. citizen as a child but was born in Mexico. He traveled through South American and finally in Brazil asked someone why everyone was so rude to him. The woman asked if he was also Mexican and he said, "Yes.' She said next time carry a Mexican passport and people will be nicer. He filed for his Mexican passport.

Going to Europe is safer with any passport other than a U.S. passport. I know people who have gotten Irish passports based on ancestry just so they could travel more safely.

If people have Mexican parents they are Mexican also. Being Mexican could come in very handy someday especially if they want to retire to Mexico. They are allowed to be dual citizens.

[gomexico]

Mitt Romney, one of the Republican candidates for the party's nomination to run for U.S. President is Mexican-American. I was surprised when I learned that.

[axixic2]

Originally Posted by gomexico

Mitt Romney, one of the Republican candidates for the party's nomination to run for U.S. President is Mexican-American. I was surprised when I learned that.

His father was in a Mormon settlement in Mexico where Mitt's father was born which made his father a dual citizen, Mexican/American. I guess Mitt could claim Mexican citizenship because of his father's citizenship. Why aren't the birthers throwing a fit over this? No one is claiming that Mitt isn't a "Natural Born" citizen because his father wasn't a 100% all American citizen.

Mitt Romney's 'Mexican roots': 4 talking points - The Week

2. Romney's father was born in Mexico
The candidate's late father, two-term Michigan Gov. George Romney, was born in a Mormon colony in Mexico in 1907. George Romney's parents were U.S. citizens, so he was, too. George Romney would later serve as Michigan's governor and U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and ran for president in 1968. Some questioned whether his birth in Mexico made him ineligible for the presidency, but it became irrelevant when Richard Nixon knocked George Romney out of the race with a string of primary victories.

He still has relatives in Mexico so the hard core anti-immigration crowd better watch out. Mitt might like Mexicans since he has Mexican relatives.

4. But some of Romney's relatives still live in Mexico
Three dozen Romneys still live in Colonia Juarez, the Mormon colony in northern Mexico that the candidate's great-grandfather helped establish. They speak English and Spanish with equal fluency. One, a 70-year-old rancher, was once briefly held by a gang of ransom-seeking kidnappers. Most of the Mexican Romneys disagree with their distant relative's hardline stance on illegal immigrants from Mexico, but — even though they have never met him — support his presidential bid, and could vote for Romney via absentee ballot. Because these Mexican Romneys' parents retained U.S. citizenship, they have it, too.

[Agnapostate]

That's interesting; my grandfather's from northwestern Chihuahua (around Nuevo Casas Grandes) too.

[axixic2]

Originally Posted by Agnapostate

That's interesting; my grandfather's from northwestern Chihuahua (around Nuevo Casas Grandes) too.

Maybe you and Mitt are cousins?

[Agnapostate]

Originally Posted by axixic2

Maybe you and Mitt are cousins?

LOL, I doubt he has too many relatives that look like us.



As I've commented in another thread, the popular misconception in the U.S. is that being "Mexican" is hereditary or phenotypic, as evidenced by Blurred Borders for Some but not Others: Racialization, Flexible Ethnicity, Gender, and Third-Generation Mexican American Identity: "[D]arker persons were less likely to identify as white, more likely to be perceived as Mexican, and more likely to experience stereotyping and discrimination."

Hence, Romney's not thought of as "Mexican" even though his father is from Mexico, while I am despite the fact that neither one of my parents is from Mexico...

[City Data Guy]

A Mexican is a person born in Mexico to Mexican parents, regardless of ethnicity.

A Mexican American is an American citizen with ancestors from Mexico, regardless of ethnicity.

Am I right or am I right?