Is it common for natural born Americans in the Valley to speak only Spanish? (Houston: home, school)

[earthisle]

I've met many people from the Rio Grande Valley and they all have a Mexican accent even if born here, but many of them only speak English. But I was surprised to hear the interview with Francisco Galicia, the 18 year old American born man who was detained for 3 weeks, where he spoke Spanish. He said that his English isn't good but he's planning to learn English. Is that part of the country really so isolated that a person can be born in Dallas and at the age of 18 only speak Spanish?

[Trainwreck20]

Yes.

[DanielWayne]

That's right on the border with Mexico. I don't see how that is shocking.

I grew up in SE Texas. It was unusual, but not unheard of to hear about somebody from nearby Louisiana that only spoke Cajun French. Poke around Fredericksburg and you will find people that may only know German. Those are isolated outposts of languages other than English. The Rio Grande is adjacent to Mexico so the odds of that type of thing happening exponentially increase.

[Westerner92]

Yup. The RGV is one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous places in the US. Spanish is the default language for 90%+ of the population.

[HomeIsWhere...]

Originally Posted by earthisle

I've met many people from the Rio Grande Valley and they all have a Mexican accent even if born here, but many of them only speak English. But I was surprised to hear the interview with Francisco Galicia, the 18 year old American born man who was detained for 3 weeks, where he spoke Spanish. He said that his English isn't good but he's planning to learn English. Is that part of the country really so isolated that a person can be born in Dallas and at the age of 18 only speak Spanish?

Perhaps he was living in Mexico despite being American born, didn't think it wasn't important enough to learn English. I believe the article stated that he, his brother (who is not a citizen and self deported) and some friends were on their way to a "soccer scouting event" at Ranger college in the hope to earn a scholarship to secure "their" education.

American born, resides in Mexico (with his brother?)...and now has plans to become educated in America with an athletic scholarship. Makes sense to me.

[turf3]

Well first of all, Dallas is very far from the Rio Grande Valley.


Secondly, many of the people you're talking about have ancestors who were here before anyone who spoke English was.

[supfromthesite]

He was probably born in America and raised in Mexico. It is a very common thing for Mexicans to have their kids here so they can use the birthright citizenship clause to make their kid a citizen(not sure if that is what his parents did but I wouldn't be surprised, I know plenty of people who did this).

As far as growing up in the RGV and not speaking any English? No. There are certainly 18 year olds from Mexico and older people that have been in America for decades that don't speak English though.

[supfromthesite]

Hell, who knows, it could be possible. I know a teacher in Houston that claims some of his Mexican students refuse to use English. So if it happens in Houston why not there?

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by earthisle

Is it common for natural born Americans in the Valley to speak only Spanish?

I don't find this to be true, if they speak ZERO English they are typically young American born children who haven't attended school yet and all they hear at home is Spanish. If they are older and not speaking Spanish, it is because they have spent much time outside of the country. Many American kids in the Valley actually speak very broken Spanish and English with an American Hispanic accent.

I would what you are describing was much more common before the 90's prior cable television and the internet when it truly was more isolated. My dad, for example was born in 1942 in the RGV and even served in the US Army during the Vietnam War. He spoke English, but was much more comfortable speaking Spanish. Many of my aunts and uncles his age were about the same, American born but spoke more Spanish than English. This is not true for the younger generation today which mostly speaks English.

I think what you are describing would apply more to kids born in the RGV, maybe lived there as young kids, but were mostly raised in Matamoros, Reynosa or somewhere else on the otherside of the border who then moved back to the US.

[lonestar2007]

He speaks English. He didn't want to use it because he thought they were trying to "trick him into signing a removal order". His mother lied when obtaining a tourist visa for him claiming he was born in Mexico. Yep, "Galicia’s mother used a different name on his birth certificate and said he was born in Mexico because of her immigration status. This name change meant she wasn’t able to request a U.S. passport for him. She applied for a tourist visa with inaccurate information". Oh, excuse me, I shouldn't have said lied, I should have said inaccurate. Hmmm, looks like I'm not the only one who thinks a person who will lie about one thing will lie about another.

Always more to a story than meets the eye. I'd almost venture to say this entire thing is likely another ploy by the politicians to keep the fires going over this immigration controversy. Throw some money to a family such a this and why wouldn't they accept it? Give them the narrative to the plot's story line, coach them on acting it out and why not? It's not like they have any loyalty to America and in fact, it would be beneficial to them and all the rest of their family still coming into the US.

America - use to be land of the free. Now? America - land of total propaganda. I guess I'm just too suspicious of all of this crap anymore and I try to ignore it so don't know why I responded to this post. lol I know for sure I'm going to regret it.