Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I read through the first several pages and didn't see reference but apologize if it did show up later.
The average American has some serious geography shortcomings and if aware of New Mexico may assume it's not even an American state, versus in relation to Mexico. Ridiculous, sad and true all at once but there you have a primary reason why New Mexico doesn't get the attention seen in Arizona, Texas, Colorado and California.
You make a very good point. Even now stupid criminals flea to Albuquerque because they think it is outside the U.S. never wondering why they don't need a passport. There is actually a permantent office for the America's Most Wanted group that has a television show at the Albuquerque airport.
When I joined the army in the 70's and was in New Jersey for training and Georgia for permanant duty, I remember many people asked me why I was in the U.S. army, and some complimented me on my english.
I thought it would have changed by now but it hasn't, people are less educated now than they were 50 years ago. And I still think it is a good thing that we don't get the attention the other southwestern states do, but I expect that is changing because of the movie industry.
Yup. I even witnessed a TSA employee (not a sworn agent) try to require a New Mexican resident to go thru Immigration & Customs! Things might have gotten really ugly if the person hadn't thought to bring his US passport along....
I never have trouble at airports outside of New Mexico, but my drivers licesnse is a national ID. No one with any state drivers license that is not a national ID can get through a TSA check without a passport, which it seems is rare for U.S. Americans to even have unless they actually travel outsied the U.S.
I think that New Mexico has so few migrants/immigrants/refugees coming here, even though we're a border state, is for the same reason. They think it's not part of the United States, or just aren't very convinced that it is. After walking through the length of Mexico, they're not settling for a place called New Mexico.
A few weeks ago I heard an interview on the radio with an official from Denver, explaining their refugee crisis. When asked why so many were coming to Denver, the official said "Because we're the first city north of El Paso."
As a lifelong California resident, someone once said to me that migrants make it as far as they can into California, eschewing San Diego for parts further north where they feel safer and where there were and are growing numbers of PLU's (People Like Us). Can't blame them for wanting to feel safe amongst PLU's.
El Paso migrants could stop in Las Cruces but it's too close to the border and it's certainly not Denver with far more opportunities and the ability to hide out more easily.
I think that New Mexico has so few migrants/immigrants/refugees coming here, even though we're a border state, is for the same reason. They think it's not part of the United States, or just aren't very convinced that it is. After walking through the length of Mexico, they're not settling for a place called New Mexico.
A few weeks ago I heard an interview on the radio with an official from Denver, explaining their refugee crisis. When asked why so many were coming to Denver, the official said "Because we're the first city north of El Paso."
Wow! That's quite a statement. But I haven't noticed a significant influx of migrants in the Denver area. There actually are two living in the basement of the household where I live, but that's only because they're relatives of the LL. One is a bona-fide human rights case claiming asylum, and arrived with paperwork, has something equivalent to a temporary green card, and a lawyer and employment help. The other one was fleeing chaos in Ecuador, serious chaos. But I haven't noticed hardly any Spanish speakers in the area, gardeners or landscaper assistants from south of the border working in people's yards, like you see in Santa Fe, and that sort of thing.
And one thing about the Denver area and CO in general is, that unlike NM, the community colleges don't offer free English language classes to all comers. I took that to indicate, that there's not as much demand as in, say, CA or NM or TX. But maybe it means that CO taxpayers don't want to provide free English classes to "illegals". It's not as if NM taxpayers can afford to do that, though. That's been going on since long before the governor decided to make all higher ed in NM free.
Wow! That's quite a statement. But I haven't noticed a significant influx of migrants in the Denver area. There actually are two living in the basement of the household where I live, but that's only because they're relatives of the LL. One is a bona-fide human rights case claiming asylum, and arrived with paperwork, has something equivalent to a temporary green card, and a lawyer and employment help. The other one was fleeing chaos in Ecuador, serious chaos. But I haven't noticed hardly any Spanish speakers in the area, gardeners or landscaper assistants from south of the border working in people's yards, like you see in Santa Fe, and that sort of thing.
And one thing about the Denver area and CO in general is, that unlike NM, the community colleges don't offer free English language classes to all comers. I took that to indicate, that there's not as much demand as in, say, CA or NM or TX. But maybe it means that CO taxpayers don't want to provide free English classes to "illegals". It's not as if NM taxpayers can afford to do that, though. That's been going on since long before the governor decided to make all higher ed in NM free.
I've seen in several news sources that 40,000 migrants have arrived in Denver since 2022, mostly on buses from Texas. It's more than 5% of Denver's total population. But they aren't mostly Spanish-speaking, many are from Africa and Asia. Schools are struggling to keep up with the influx of non-English-speaking children. But we don't hear about anything like this happening in NM.
Maybe Governor Abbott isn't sending busloads to NM because he doesn't know we're a state. He wanted to line the Texas-NM border with razor-wire (and maybe did).
An anecdote: I drove through a new apartment complex in Albuquerque to see how it's progressing. Much of it is still under construction, but some new residents have moved in, and I noticed quite a few out-of-state license plates: Texas, Arizona, California, Texas, Florida, Texas, Georgia. Maybe this is representative of where new residents in the city are relocating from.
I've seen in several news sources that 40,000 migrants have arrived in Denver since 2022, mostly on buses from Texas. It's more than 5% of Denver's total population. But they aren't mostly Spanish-speaking, many are from Africa and Asia. Schools are struggling to keep up with the influx of non-English-speaking children. But we don't hear about anything like this happening in NM.
Maybe Governor Abbott isn't sending busloads to NM because he doesn't know we're a state. He wanted to line the Texas-NM border with razor-wire (and maybe did).
LOL! No,seriously? He wanted to extend The Wall to include the TX/NM border? How would all those Tx oil guys feel, who have swank vacation homes at the higher elevations in NM, about getting Walled off?
40,000 Africans and Asians arriving in Denver over 2 yrs? Isn't Denver already short on housing? I used to see Africans at the post office, who looked like they were getting by on charity. But not in the tens of thousands, lol. Where are the national headlines, about masses of Africans and Asians coming into the US via Mexico? I've read about Russians trying that. Are you sure the TX governor wasn't exaggerating to gain political brownie points?
An anecdote: I drove through a new apartment complex in Albuquerque to see how it's progressing. Much of it is still under construction, but some new residents have moved in, and I noticed quite a few out-of-state license plates: Texas, Arizona, California, Texas, Florida, Texas, Georgia. Maybe this is representative of where new residents in the city are relocating from.
All those whiners on the CA forum, who bailed on CA and moved to TX because it was so much cheaper decided ABQ was their Shangri-La? Hard to imagine.
LOL! No,seriously? He wanted to extend The Wall to include the TX/NM border? How would all those Tx oil guys feel, who have swank vacation homes at the higher elevations in NM, about getting Walled off?
40,000 Africans and Asians arriving in Denver over 2 yrs? Isn't Denver already short on housing? I used to see Africans at the post office, who looked like they were getting by on charity. But not in the tens of thousands, lol. Where are the national headlines, about masses of Africans and Asians coming into the US via Mexico? I've read about Russians trying that. Are you sure the TX governor wasn't exaggerating to gain political brownie points?
I don't know the exact demographics of the migrants in Denver, but I've seen the numbers of crossings at El Paso broken down by nationality. China, Syria, and Congo have accounted for most of the migration in some months. Europe has cracked down on African immigration so many are flying to Mexico to reach the US.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
