Mexican immigrants are returning to country taken from them

Published 12:23 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Americans easily forget history. It was not always the case that “illegal aliens” streamed north across the Mexican-American border. Throughout the 1820s, Americans streamed south and west into Mexican territory. However, Mexico had abolished slavery in 1829, and the folks who were entering Mexican territory wanted to own slaves. The Mexican government became alarmed and outlawed the immigration.

Typical of American foreign policy, President Polk (a slave holder himself), conjured up an attack on American soil by the Mexican Army. He said, “American blood had been shed on American soil.”

Many in the North knew this was a lie, including the freshman congressman Abraham Lincoln, but Polk successfully convinced Congress to let him wage war on Mexico. In 1846, the war was begun, and by 1848, the territories from Texas to Southern Oregon were conquered and annexed into the United States of America.

The ill will engendered by this act, among Americans themselves, was a major catalyst for the Civil War in 1861. The perpetuation of the myth of the Alamo is a dishonest exploitation of our history. The fact is that the defenders of the Alamo fought for white supremacy and slavery.

The vast territory (over 500,000 square miles), eventually taken from Mexico, included Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, half of New Mexico, a quarter of Colorado and part of Wyoming. Now many Americans, ignorant of their own sordid history, bristle with anger over what they perceive as illegal entry into “our” country by Mexicans. But to many of the Mexicans who are entering the U.S., it is their country which was taken from them. They are just coming home.

— Lawrence Dean