Several sources discuss how the association and stereotype of Mexicans as illegal and criminal can act as a debilitating factor in the fight towards border stability. Leo Chavez, in his article titled, “The Latino Threat,” declares that though they have inhabited what is now the United States since before the original colonies were established, Latinos, particularly Mexicans, are “plagued by the mark of illegality.”[1] He points out that the association with Mexican immigrants as criminals creates a mentality within the public discourse that Mexican immigrants are unable to contribute to society and unworthy of social benefits, including citizenship.[2] In addition, he also suggests the media’s objectification of immigrants and its portrayal of Mexican immigrants as a chaotic mass rather than as people struggling to be recognized as contributing members of U.S. society may have led to a lack of empathy among a good portion of the American public.[3] In addition to the aforementioned stereotype possibly creating a degree of apathy north of the border, it may also contribute to a lack of self-confidence and sense of powerlessness south of the border. As Marguerite Waller discusses in her article, “Border Boda or Divorce Fronterizo”, “The ‘illegal alien’ image is precisely the image of themselves that some Comadres must confront everyday—in school, in the media, on the street, in the workplace. Worse, it can become an internalized self-image of powerlessness…”[4] In turn, this construct of Mexican as the ‘illegal’ people makes resolving border issues that much more of a challenge. Specifically, the “Border Boda” article concurs that perhaps this fear of embodying the stereotype may be creating reluctance among Chicanas to air their differences in front of “Anglo” women.[5] Most importantly, the image of Mexicans as chaotic, helpless, downtrodden, criminal, and illegal can prevent the inter-cultural interaction necessary to fuel crucial discussions about immigration policy. Only with cross-cultural understanding can border stability be achieved.
Some of the tension surrounding border and immigration issues could certainly stem from the noticeable hypocrisy among opposition towards Mexican immigration in the United States. In the aforementioned “Border Boda” article, Marguerite Waller how the demonstrators and organizers or the right wing, populist campaign, “Light Up the Border”, despite its vehement opposition to Mexican immigration, in fact, knew nothing of Indio, Spanish, and Mexican history of the region. Not only that, they seemed unaware of the “complex, self-serving, and immensely profitable games U.S. business, manufacturing, agriculture, and government have been playing with Mexican labor for generations.”[6] Not only is it inherently hypocritical to stage an oppositional movement against a group with whom you’re unfamiliar; in this case, the organizers of “Light Up the Border” seemed unaware of the hypocrisy in turning away immigrants whom U.S. business both used and exploited regularly. Other pundits also addressed contradictions within the anti-immigration agenda. Right after mentioning an incident when a tejano rancher’s wife was raped and murdered by an Anglo landgrabber, the latter article references a woman named Mrs. Vásquez, who after being seized and beaten at the border, denounces the hypocrisy of Americans who strongly oppose Mexicans entering their country while they invade Mexico and brutalize Mexicans.[7] Clearly, not all of the opposition to immigration has committed such heinous acts, but various examples of the opposition’s rhetoric and actions reveal a type of hypocrisy that only hampers the effort to stabilize the border situation.
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