Does the future of Dallas look like Mexico City? (Houston: crime rates, living)

[Sandstorm214]

Originally Posted by mikejj2004

This is a radical change in a major cities demographics in less than a decade, and I have to wonder what the endgame is here - what will Dallas look like in the future and is that a city you would want to live in or raise a family in?

This is a trend that's been going on for decades. I've lived all my life in Texas and New Mexico, have loved every minute of it, and would be happy living in either state for the remainder or my years. I look forward to living and rasing a family here in Dallas and have no doubt that the area will continue to grow and prosper. I doubt that we will ever achieve the culture and character of Mexico City, though.

[Moorhen3]

I don't understand why so many people purposefully (or not) disregard the history of this part of the United States. This used to be Mexico, the ties are still there and will always be there. Mexican people and people from other Latin countries are not the only ones who are here illegally but it is a lot easier to spot a brown person than a white person (say from Canada or UK or what ever other Anglo country you can think of). Yes, I know, I know the argument will be made that those people who are here illegally are not as many as the ones from Mexico or other South American countries.
But they are here. They let their visas expire and do not go back. But it is just soooo much easier to believe that only people from Mexico or other Latin countries are here illegally.
I go back to the history of this part of the country. We have extremely deep roots in a huge area of the United States. This battle to get rid of Mexicans, legal or not, has been going on since the mid 1800s. So good luck in trying to get rid of us. You know, if anything does it, it is the bad economy, so I guess keep hoping that we have a bad economy because that is definitely driving away many people back. Oh, and by the way, no one would want to come here if they didn't have to. Believe me, everyone shares their stories of discrimination, of maltreatment, of violence, of so many other things that few people would be willing to tolerate, but they put up w/it (whether they are legal or not) because work is what they want and work is what they are willing to do.
I really like what Eva Longoria said one time: "The border crossed us, we didn't cross the border". So just because you see brown skin, you really have no idea what their history is and whether they are here legally or not.

[nsumner]

Originally Posted by mikejj2004

Much of this increase is from illegal immigrants who have "anchor babies" that are able to obtain US citizenship through what is basically a loophole in immigration law. Some 70% of the babies delivered at Parkland Memorial fall into this category.

Just an FYI, that when a person gives birth to a child here doesn't mean that the parents automatically become citizens. The child is. The child can petition for the parent's citizenship when that child reaches 18.

[SloopJohnZ]

Sweet! I've always wanted to go to Mexico City. Thanks for saving me the airfare.

[BigDGeek]

A lot of recent Mexican and Central American immigrants in DFW are illegal. How many? Impossible to say. But the figure is pretty high, probably higher than most people think. It's also true that a great deal of births at Parkland are to illegal mothers. How many? Impossible to say.

Dallas's Hispanic population has exploded in the last decade and a good deal of that is due to illegal immigration; this has been stated again and again in article after article, news story after news story, published in DFW and across the United States. DFW is far from the only metro area dealing with a large influx of illegal immigrants.

That being said, you can't assume every Hispanic person you see is illegal. As others have stated, most Hispanics in DFW were either born here or are legal immigrants. If you live here long enough you get a feel for who is legal and who isn't based on language skills, behavior, demeanor, and appearance. But that's just a gut feel. You don't know for sure unless you ask them to prove it and even then, they might have fake docs. I try to prevent illegals from working on my property by requesting only English-speaking crews and insisting that everyone be documented. I also ask to see identification and if someone has an accent, I ask to see their green card. I would ask no matter what color they were or what accent they have.

I don't have a problem with Latinos. I DO have a problem with illegal immigrants. I don't want to support them by employing them in any way, shape or form. That means I pay more for contracting services, lawn services, arborists, etc. Is it worth it to me? Sure, I don't want to be part of the problem.

If you don't like Latinos, DFW and Texas in general are probably not good places for you to live. DFW hasn't had as much of a "Latin feel" as some other cities but that has changed a lot. DFW now looks more like San Antonio 20 years ago. San Antonio has been majority Hispanic for as long as I can remember and it's doing fine.

[galore]

Originally Posted by nsumner

Just an FYI, that when a person gives birth to a child here doesn't mean that the parents automatically become citizens. The child is. The child can petition for the parent's citizenship when that child reaches 18.

Wrong.

From the USCIS:

"U.S. citizens who want their relatives to immigrate to the United States can file a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for their spouse, children and if the U.S. citizen is at least 21 years old, their parents and brothers or sisters."

This form I-130 does not grant citizenship. It makes one eligible for a green card, which will take another year or so processing time to complete. From that point on, it will be another five years before the parents become eligible to apply for citizenship, which can take another year or so processing time. There are lots of rules that can make one ineligible (residency rules, passing the test, "moral turpitude", mistakes on the numerous application packages...).

Somehow this is rarely discussed. The agenda is to yell "terrorist anchor babies" and BAM the brown wave will just DROWN everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[simpleharmonicmotion]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

A lot of recent Mexican and Central American immigrants in DFW are illegal. How many? Impossible to say. But the figure is pretty high, probably higher than most people think. It's also true that a great deal of births at Parkland are to illegal mothers. How many? Impossible to say.

Dallas's Hispanic population has exploded in the last decade and a good deal of that is due to illegal immigration; this has been stated again and again in article after article, news story after news story, published in DFW and across the United States. DFW is far from the only metro area dealing with a large influx of illegal immigrants.

That being said, you can't assume every Hispanic person you see is illegal. As others have stated, most Hispanics in DFW were either born here or are legal immigrants. If you live here long enough you get a feel for who is legal and who isn't based on language skills, behavior, demeanor, and appearance. But that's just a gut feel. You don't know for sure unless you ask them to prove it and even then, they might have fake docs. I try to prevent illegals from working on my property by requesting only English-speaking crews and insisting that everyone be documented. I also ask to see identification and if someone has an accent, I ask to see their green card. I would ask no matter what color they were or what accent they have.

I don't have a problem with Latinos. I DO have a problem with illegal immigrants. I don't want to support them by employing them in any way, shape or form. That means I pay more for contracting services, lawn services, arborists, etc. Is it worth it to me? Sure, I don't want to be part of the problem.

If you don't like Latinos, DFW and Texas in general are probably not good places for you to live. DFW hasn't had as much of a "Latin feel" as some other cities but that has changed a lot. DFW now looks more like San Antonio 20 years ago. San Antonio has been majority Hispanic for as long as I can remember and it's doing fine.

I think the way you're dealing with it is fair. I also think the fact that anti-illegal immigration groups like Numbersusa and fair target mostly politicians is fair as well. What is NOT fair is assuming that every Hispanic person is an illegal immigrant. What is NOT fair is assuming every Hispanic person supports illegal immigration based on what you see in the media-one revels in the reality that capturing ethnocentric Mexican extremists does more for their ratings than showing "boring" Latinos that, ya know, like America and are patriotic about this country. What is NOT fair is targeting them or marginalizing them (You'd think that racist people would realize that discrimination removes the incentive to assimilate). There are many Latino people who have had NOTHING to do with creating or supporting some policies of this country- that includes loopholes like birthright citizenship or government entitlements. These sweeping condemnations are analogous to damning every single live white person for slavery 300 years ago.

[Cowboybootnut]

Sorry, but I hope that the future of Dallas is not looking like Mexico City.

This is America, this is Texas, and this is Dallas. I don't give a dang if this use to be a part of Mexico. Every country use to be a part of another country. Key word, use to be. I don't care if we have a zillion people from Mexico or Latin America or Iraq here, this is America, if you expect to live here, learn to use the language and don't expect me to have to learn to use your language and/or provide interpreters for you to go to vote, or go to hospitals, or any other governmental services, or contact your bank.

America is unique, we should accept everyone legally, and yes it is a melting pot and thank God for that! But melt dang it!

Would you like it for the future of Mexico City to be like Dallas in the 1940s with a lot of white people speaking English?

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by mikejj2004

I was looking at the 2008 demographics of Dallas and I can't help but notice that the hispanic population has massively increased, while the white and black population have gone substantially down in the same period. There is now 1.5 hispanics living in Dallas for every white person, up from about 1 in less than a decade. DISD figures show that only 5% of students are white vs 64.2% hispanic. Illegal immigrants are notoriously hard to count and based on being 64.2% of the public schools, It's quite possible that hispanics are >50% of the city of Dallas population.

Much of this increase is from illegal immigrants who have "anchor babies" that are able to obtain US citizenship through what is basically a loophole in immigration law. Some 70% of the babies delivered at Parkland Memorial fall into this category. I don't think it's fair for Dallas tax payers to have to bankroll the healthcare, education and entitelement programs of Mexican citizens living here illegally and their children.

This is a radical change in a major cities demographics in less than a decade, and I have to wonder what the endgame is here - what will Dallas look like in the future and is that a city you would want to live in or raise a family in?

Of course, the city of Dallas is just a portion of the Dallas - Fort Worth area.
I foresee Anglos in the future fleeing from the city of Houston and the northern part of the city of San Antonio to the areas of Austin and the Dallas - Fort Worth just as they are now fleeing from California to the west in places like Arizona and Nevada and north to places like Oregon and Washington. While these areas in Texas also have large Hispanic populations, their ambience takes on more of an Anglo culture than a Hispanic one.

[Sandstorm214]

Things change. Times change. Everyone will adjust to change and be fine. If you're not able to adjust, well, you're going to have problems anywhere you go because there aren't places immune from change. Dallas will be just fine 50 years from now.