Immigration – a topic I have ignored but feel the need to comment on, given the recent events in the World Cup soccer match between the US and Mexico.
Like most Americans you, dear reader, don’t give a hoot about professional soccer, but you should give a hoot about what happened during that soccer match in Pasadena, California. The Mexican fans displayed very rude and disrespectful attitudes toward the United States. What makes all this even more troubling is that most of those Mexican fans call America home. It is troubling that we have a massive group of immigrant Mexicans living in American who disrespect this country and, in the case of those who have US citizenship, love Mexico more than the US.
I am an immigrant to America. I believe that all legal immigrants have just as much a right to be here as I do, if they follow the rules.
Some rules are explicit, such as maintaining legal status in the United States and obeying the laws of the land. Other rules are implicit, such a respecting this country, its history, and values. One of the values that all immigrants need to respect is patriotism.
Canadians are far less patriotic than Americans, but this doesn’t mean that as a non-patriotic Canadian I can reject patriotism in the states. Out of respect for my guest country, I rise when the national anthem is played. I put my hand on my heart when the national anthem is played. I recite the Pledge of Allegiance when it is spoken. I usually stopped walking on BYU campus when the national anthem played at 5:00 pm. And I teach my kids to be patriotic American citizens who love God and country because they are American. I don’t give my kids Canadian flags and instill in them some sort of allegiance to Canada – they are Americans, period.
It seems some 80,000 Mexican-American soccer fans who live in the United States forgot the implicit rules.
At the soccer match in Pasadena, California, Mexican immigrant fans waved Mexican flags, wore Mexican colors, repeatedly booed the American team, shouted obscenities at the American goalie, and disrespected the American national anthem by blowing horns and bouncing beach balls. This juvenile, bad-mannered behavior by tens of thousands of Mexican immigrants who call the US home has me worried. It also concerns Ruben Navarrette, an American-Mexican reporter for CNN. Referring to the soccer match, he wrote,
[S]omething here is amiss. The Mexican immigrants of today are noticeably different from the Mexican immigrants of a few decades ago. They're more defiant, more entitled and more intent on preserving their culture and maintaining their love for a country they left behind -- one that hasn't always loved them back.
To be sure, many Mexican immigrants come here keeping the implicit and explicit rules. These are making a meaningful contribution to America. Yet, as evident from the soccer match, many other Mexican immigrants do not keep the rules. They bring with them a defiant attitude toward the US and an attitude of being entitled to all the wealth and opportunity this nation has to offer. If this sort of thing continues, it will change this country.
Like most Americans you, dear reader, don’t give a hoot about professional soccer, but you should give a hoot about what happened during that soccer match in Pasadena, California. The Mexican fans displayed very rude and disrespectful attitudes toward the United States. What makes all this even more troubling is that most of those Mexican fans call America home. It is troubling that we have a massive group of immigrant Mexicans living in American who disrespect this country and, in the case of those who have US citizenship, love Mexico more than the US.
I am an immigrant to America. I believe that all legal immigrants have just as much a right to be here as I do, if they follow the rules.
Some rules are explicit, such as maintaining legal status in the United States and obeying the laws of the land. Other rules are implicit, such a respecting this country, its history, and values. One of the values that all immigrants need to respect is patriotism.
Canadians are far less patriotic than Americans, but this doesn’t mean that as a non-patriotic Canadian I can reject patriotism in the states. Out of respect for my guest country, I rise when the national anthem is played. I put my hand on my heart when the national anthem is played. I recite the Pledge of Allegiance when it is spoken. I usually stopped walking on BYU campus when the national anthem played at 5:00 pm. And I teach my kids to be patriotic American citizens who love God and country because they are American. I don’t give my kids Canadian flags and instill in them some sort of allegiance to Canada – they are Americans, period.
It seems some 80,000 Mexican-American soccer fans who live in the United States forgot the implicit rules.
At the soccer match in Pasadena, California, Mexican immigrant fans waved Mexican flags, wore Mexican colors, repeatedly booed the American team, shouted obscenities at the American goalie, and disrespected the American national anthem by blowing horns and bouncing beach balls. This juvenile, bad-mannered behavior by tens of thousands of Mexican immigrants who call the US home has me worried. It also concerns Ruben Navarrette, an American-Mexican reporter for CNN. Referring to the soccer match, he wrote,
[S]omething here is amiss. The Mexican immigrants of today are noticeably different from the Mexican immigrants of a few decades ago. They're more defiant, more entitled and more intent on preserving their culture and maintaining their love for a country they left behind -- one that hasn't always loved them back.
To be sure, many Mexican immigrants come here keeping the implicit and explicit rules. These are making a meaningful contribution to America. Yet, as evident from the soccer match, many other Mexican immigrants do not keep the rules. They bring with them a defiant attitude toward the US and an attitude of being entitled to all the wealth and opportunity this nation has to offer. If this sort of thing continues, it will change this country.
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