Commentary
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Texas, Texas, Texas, bless your heart. I have mixed feelings about you through the current immigrant crisis on the border, the epicenter of which is the West Texas town of El Paso. Are you the victim you claim to be, or an accomplice after the fact. Because my mom was raised in the Rio Grande Valley and my oldest daughter was born in Dallas, I’m in your debt. I can say to you my second home after my native California. As such, I’ve always tried to shoot you straight. So now Texas, I owe you an apology. Not 100% It was all me and none of it was you type of MIA culpa. You’re not innocent, and bring it about the current crisis. As I’ve said before, and other commentaries for straight arrow news. Among Texas employers in the average household, illegal immigrant labor, it’s as common in the Lone Star State as blue bonnets and yellow roses. And just as popular, you can’t very well hold up a no trespassing sign in one hand, and a help wanted sign in another. People see through that kind of hypocrisy. But I too, I also have to step up and accept responsibility for being glib and not taking seriously the effect that having 10,000 to 12,000 migrants and refugees show up every single day is having on Texas border towns and cities. After all, I’m way over here in California, and El Paso or el chico as the locals call it. The shelters are full and 1000s of people many from South American countries such as Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador are sleeping on frigid streets. God bless the good folks who are bringing their visitors blankets, clothing, food and water in 2023. This drama is playing out in El Paso. But in 2014 and 2018. Something similar happened downriver in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, where 10s of 1000s of migrants and refugees streamed in from Central American countries like Honduras and El Salvador. Once again, much of the country didn’t pay close enough attention to what was happening and ask why. As a native of Central California, I’m emotionally wedded to the Rio Grande Valley. The two valleys San Joaquin and Rio Grande are sister regions with similar demographics and social economic profiles. In both cases, we’re talking about foreign country with a big population of Mexican Americans who were discriminated against and disenfranchised by a minority of white people. In the 1950s. It was with heavy hearts that my grandfather Sunwell and my grandmother Aurora left their native Texas and the family home they had built and Edinburg and migrated 1500 miles to Central California to make new lives for themselves and their five kids, including their oldest child, my mom. And so in honor of my mother, and all the terminal branches in my family tree, I owe the state of Texas and apology. But I’m not the only one. As the second most populous state in the country after California, the economic growth in Texas doesn’t stay in Texas, thanks in large part to the sweat and hard work of the same immigrants that Texans love to complain about. The state has an annual gross domestic product of more than $2 trillion. That’s a lot of cabbage. And it goes everywhere, not least of all to Washington in the form of tax dollars and the other 49 states in the form of what Texans spend on trade and travel. The point is, as Texas goes, so goes much of the country, the country can’t afford to forget that. And for the last decade, at least Texans at least those who live on the border with Mexico have sounded the alarm that something new and different was happening. There was an unprecedented surge in immigrant crossings. They said it wasn’t just Mexicans anymore. They said the United Nations was coming to Texas, they said from my comfortable perch many miles away in California. I ignored all that. I have argued that things weren’t really that bad. Well, I was wrong. And Texas I’m sorry.
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Texas is Hispanic, and that’s not going to change
Hispanic people now make up the largest ethnic group in Texas, according to the latest U.S. census data, and almost half of all minors in the state are Hispanic or Latino. This data feeds the fears of some right-wing Americans who believe in the “great replacement” theory. The theory states that non-white populations are displacing…
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Liberal Americans are abandoning DEI
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have emerged as popular values for many left-leaning Americans. These Americans celebrate certain events, such as Barack Obama’s victory as the first Black U.S. president, as historical achievements and milestones of forward progress over time. Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben Navarrette worries that these values are eroding on the left,…
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GOP hypocrites ‘tough on crime’ while supporting criminal Trump
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, conservative politicians won campaigns in part by positioning themselves as “tough on crime” and talking about “the rule of law.” Later, during the Trump administration, it was the Democrats who positioned themselves as the defenders of law and order. Now, despite fielding a presidential candidate who faces 91 felony criminal…
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Democrats too soft on Biden’s poor treatment of immigrants
Republicans have attacked U.S. southern border security from every angle. What’s sometimes missing from the public view of this conversation are the criticisms of Biden’s own fellow Democrats, many of whom argue that the president is being far too tough with immigrants who dream of living in the United States. Straight Arrow News contributor Ruben…
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Why Trump is doing surprisingly well with Latinos
Despite Donald Trump’s use of anti-immigrant rhetoric, which could potentially turn off some Latino voters, the former president is seeing a rise in support within this demographic. According to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, Latino voters, now constituting nearly 15% of eligible voters, show President Biden with 40% support compared to Trump’s 46%.…
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