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Monday, June 08, 2009
Embracing America — fully
By Jerry Pacheco
For the Journal
American by convenience.
This is a term that has been bouncing around in my head since a recent dinner with a friend of mine, who left Mexico 25 years ago with his family after getting crossways with powerful political forces that started undermining his successful business.
He moved to the U.S. with very little left of the fortune that his company had helped build for him in Mexico, and eventually settled in Houston, Texas. After establishing a business in a totally different industrial sector than he had in Mexico, he replicated his entrepreneurial success in the U.S
Today, he is even more successful in the larger U.S. market than he was in Mexico – a testimonial to the international spirit of entrepreneurship.
At our dinner, my friend and I talked about his life and the lives of millions of Mexicans who have migrated to the U.S. during the past 25 years. He gave me a new twist on the dual citizenship issue. I had always viewed people who were able to secure dual U.S.-Mexico citizenship as having an advantage in areas such as land ownership, services, and the ability to work in either country without the need of securing work permits.
My friend renounced his Mexican citizenship even though he was not required to. When I asked him why, he told me "My family and I made a conscious decision that if we are moving to the U.S. to build our future, and if this country is going to be the country that feeds us, we are totally going to become Americans. Sometimes there are situations in which what is good for Mexico is not necessarily good for the U.S. and vice versa. Therefore, how can I be on the fence between both countries?" For him it was a case of where he would give one of the most precious things a citizen has to give to his country – his loyalty.
There are millions of Mexican immigrants, both legal and illegal, who are living in the U.S. Recently, many have fled Mexico due to drug violence and corruption because they felt that their lives are in danger. In the past 40 years, millions have fled Mexico for economic reasons in order to better their lives. Some of these people will eventually return to their country, while many will choose to live in the U.S. permanently.
My friend and I talked about the countless Mexican students who come to the U.S. to obtain an education and return to Mexico to use their newly-acquired knowledge to better their country. On the other hand, there are many Mexican students who graduate from U.S. universities and quickly try to find work with an employer who will become their visa sponsor – many of these students plan never to leave the U.S.
The U.S. has always attracted talent and hard workers from around the world, and these people who come to the U.S. to apply their talents should be welcomed. However, it is yet to be seen whether these people will eventually become Americans – not in the sense that they legally acquire their residence permit and pass their citizenship test. What my friend is worried about is that they will never become Americans in the vested sense of buying into what it means to be an American.
I have seen this firsthand with many foreign acquaintances who have chosen to live in the U.S. – some newly arrived and some who have been here for decades. I have met people who have an aversion to say that they are American. Perhaps, it is an internal struggle to say that they have left the country in which they were born and where their parents and family still live. Maybe it's a fear of being criticized by the people in their native country who consider them traitors or sell-outs. Many of these people come to the U.S. to enjoy its economic benefits, but refuse to mentally think of themselves as American.
This is not to criticize Mexican-Americans who take as much pride in their heritage as Irish-Americans and German-Americans, and march in parades with Mexican flags to celebrate their heritage. Being American does not mean having to forsake one's heritage and where one came from, but rather buying into the American concept of freedom, democracy, capitalism, and the ability to get ahead in life regardless of your social position.
It means understanding these ideals and having pride in telling the world that you are an American and all that this word implies. It means paying taxes, obeying the laws, being a productive element of society, and instilling in your offspring pride in being an American.
My friend is not bitter about his experience. On the contrary, he talks lovingly about his native country in which he still has family. However, in his mind he became full-fledged American, not an American by convenience, when he decided to make his life in this country.
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