Review: HisPanic

"People are scared that we keep coming. That's why they're talking about building that wall and the higher the better. and the backlash is going to get worse. Wait another five or ten years." -- Herman Badillo, United States Representative.

Geraldo Rivera wrote HisPanic in the wake of President George W. Bush's failed attempt to reform immigration policy in June 2007. It is essentially an answer to some of the far right's accusation that immigration from Latin America will destroy American civilization as we know it.

Given Donald Trump's ideas about a wall along the Mexican border, it looks like the backlash that Badillo predicted might actually come true during the 2016 election.

The book is divided into chapters by topic:

1. Proud to be an American. Rivera's dual Hispanic and Jewish identity.
   
   
2. Probing the Panic. Brief history of opposition to immigration, with its modern manifestation in conservative commentators and pundits. Today's opposition to immigration is root in racism against Hispanics.
   
   
3. The Threat to America's Traditional Identity. Recounts Hispanic heritage and diversity, and how it rivals the Anglo experience. Long running suspicion of Spanish legacy.
   
   
4. The New Hispanic America, from Sea to Shining Sea. Highlights to contributions Hispanic immigrants are making across the U.S.
   
   
5. Importing Terror.Yes, 9/11 was done by foreigners, but they came through legal systems, not the Mexican border. The reason why people talk about a wall with Mexico is because of racism, not security concerns (only Scott Walker talks about a border with Canada).
   
   
6. Immigrants and Disease.Immigrants are not bringing diseases across the border. To the extent that they tax our health care system, it's because they lack access to insurance that pays for routine medical care, and therefore forced to use emergency services.
   
   
7. Immigrants and Crime.Immigrants have a lower crime rate than native U.S. citizens.
   
   
8. Hispanic Gangs. Rivera concedes this is a serious issue, and argues that these are what the Department of Homeland Security should focus on, not raiding businesses and targeting migrant workers.
   
   
9. Do Hispanics and Other Immigrants Steal Our Jobs? No. In fact, they are supporting rural America by taking jobs that citizens don't want, and supporting the economy through their local expenditures. They don't get welfare or Social Security but they still pay taxes. There's an email going around alleging that presidents Truman and Eisenhower deported 13 million immigrants to open jobs for Americans, but that's not true [Source].
   
   
10. Saint Cesar and the Immigrants.Yes, Cesar Chavez fought immigration, but that was because he was pro-union, and didn't like businesses to bring in migrant workers to subvert working conditions for citizen Chicanos.
    
    
11. Anchor Babies.Rich people do this, not poor ones. In any case, it would take 20 years for the child to grow up to sponsor their parents. Americans who want the rules on this would have to change the 14th Amendment.
    
    
12. Immigrants and the Church.Churches have offered sanctuary to protect undocumented family members from being separated. It riles legalists in the U.S., but sanctuary has been a feature of common law for hundreds of years.
    
    
13. Heroes and Deportees. Illegal immigrants have enlisted, fought for America, and died in Iraq while their family members have faced deportation. If this doesn't point out the needs for reform, I don't know what does.
    
    
14. The Other Side of History. We see immigration as taking over the country, but we're the ones who moved the border.
    
    
15. The Threat to the Two Party System. Republicans have dug their own hole with their anti-immigrant stance. It will be interesting to see how the Hispanic vote goes in 2016.
    
    
16. Conclusion. the book ends with a call for President Bush to pardon all undocumented residents (remember, this was published in 2008).

From this book, I've come to the conclusion that America *needs* immigration reform. Aside from the basic humanity of the issue -- even from a purely mercenary point of view -- America needs to provide immigrants a path to citizenship so that they can support the Social Security system (legally) as the baby boomer generation ages.

Far from being a drain on the economy, Hispanic immigrants contribute far more to the American system in tax payments and rural vitality than they take in education and health care. If anything, illegal immigration is an exploitive aberration that unfairly benefits the U.S.

HisPanic, for being written in 2007, is surprisingly relevant right now, as the Republican Party decides who will be next year's presidential candidate. Will they choose Donald Trump and completely alienate the Hispanic vote, or will they go with an Hispanic candidate like Ted Cruz or Mark Rubio?

And perhaps more interestingly, might the Democrats try to split these candidates from their voter bases by attempting immigration reform during the election year?

This may be a particularly interesting election year.