By Emma Weidmann | Editor-in-Chief
What it means to be American is “constantly changing, constantly evolving,” said Felipe Hinojosa, history professor and endowed chair for Baylor in Latin America.
Indeed, America is experiencing a demographic shift. The immigrant population in the United States hit an all-time high in Feb. 2024, as 51.4 million migrants made up 15.5% of the country, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. And then there are the children of immigrants, those whose parents crossed borders in search of some American ideal.
With them, Mexican and Latin American immigrants have brought their culture — their food, their music and dance, their art and their language. That contributes to America’s “multiracial democracy,” Hinojosa said, but it also threatens traditional definitions of Americanness.
First-generation Texans now ask themselves, what does it mean to be an American whose roots sprouted up somewhere thousands of miles away, and what does it mean to put down new roots during a time when border control and deportation are among the new administration’s top priorities?
A DUAL IDENTITY
Frisco senior Jennifer Blanco Flores is a first-generation Texan and college student. Her mother was born in Nicaragua and came to the U.S. to escape war in El Salvador, where she had been living. Her father came from Colombia when he was 12 or 13, she said, in search of opportunity.
Speaking Spanish with her family growing up made it difficult to learn English properly, she said. She struggled to learn it fast enough and once had to switch schools entirely. When she was eight years old, her teachers told her parents to use only English at home, and it helped, though she was in an ESL program until she was 13.
Blanco Flores said as she got older, she lost a little bit of her Spanish, which has led her to try to find equilibrium between speaking English in order to succeed in America and being in touch with her roots.
“Whenever I mess up on words or I don’t know things about countries where generations of my family have lived, I feel like I lack history in those countries and vocabulary, and it does feel like a part of that is missing for me,” Blanco Flores said.
She said she has found it to be “a big balancing act” to be the one in her family to forge a different path than those who came before her.
“I feel a little guilty to be living the life that so many immigrants dream of giving their children,” Blanco Flores said. “I’m lucky that I ended up with these opportunities. It’s only by the grace of God that I’ve gotten to where I am today — just look at the statistics.”
For Temple College senior Sadey Paniagua, her Mexican American identity is a huge source of pride. She grew up in Crawford, but her grandparents brought her mother, aunts and uncles to America “many years ago,” she said.
“Growing up, I never really lost my roots,” Paniagua said. “It’s always kind of like homegrown Mexico in my house … Even regardless of being [in America], I’m very proud of where I come from, and I will continue to be prideful for it and continue to live and speak for others.”
NAVIGATING POLICY
A recap of the first two weeks of the second Trump presidency wouldn’t be complete without the swarm of executive orders, which attempted to end birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and suspended refugee admissions.
On his second day in office, President Trump authorized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol agents to raid schools, churches and hospitals — a move that broke from guidance going back more than a decade that advised against carrying out raids in these places.
One order alone subjects all undocumented people to deportation, calls for detainment facilities to be constructed for those awaiting hearings, criminalizes unauthorized entries — which has been a civil offense previously — and cuts funding from sanctuary jurisdictions, cities where local police are instructed not to comply with ICE and border patrol agents.
The challenge to birthright citizenship isn’t expected to go into effect without a fight. On Wednesday, a second federal judge put a pause on the order, and the Associated Press reports that 22 other states sued with the same goal in mind.
These policies and executive orders are meant to target the influx of cartels and drugs — marijuana and methamphetamines, mostly — as well as any potential criminals entering the country. Customs and Border Patrol reports that in 2024, 573,000 lbs of drugs were seized at the border.
But, Hinojosa said, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than citizens, and according to the American Immigration Council, crime rates have actually gone down as the migrant population in the U.S. has grown. And importantly, the economic impact of mass deportation could be felt deeply by Texans and the country as a whole, as migrant workers make up 19% of the American labor force.
“There’s a shortage of laborers in the state of Texas, and so immigrants are important,” Hinojosa said. “They do the jobs that most Americans do not want to do … The fact is, we need laborers. We need immigrants to help the U.S. economy grow, to stay healthy and so forth.”
A PATH FORWARD
A recent Gallup poll showed that a record number of Americans — 55% — prefer policies that would quell the number of people crossing the Southern border, and that preference isn’t confined to one party. At the same time, the poll also shows that 70% of U.S. adults favor a path to citizenship for people who crossed the border illegally.
“I think it’s okay to demand more legal immigration,” Blanco Flores said. “But I think more empathy and fairness with deportation and immigration policies should come with it.”
Hinojosa said supporting a path to citizenship is one way to alleviate the pressure of the situation.
“Ask any undocumented person whether they would rather live in the shadows, or whether they would want to be here in this country legally so that they don’t feel like ICE or immigration officials are constantly after them,” Hinojosa said. “To a large degree, folks would be like, ‘I want to do things the right way.’”
But naturalization, the process of becoming a citizen, is a notoriously hard one that can take years depending on the case. One of the baseline requirements is residence in the U.S. for at least five years (or three, if the person is married to a U.S. citizen), among others, and the application process involves tons of paperwork and at least one in-person interview.
Aside from paperwork, there are other barriers to completing the process that can complicate things for people who wish to become citizens, such as education or money.
“It’s easier said than done, coming legally,” Paniagua said. “I mean, it’s not always the case for some people. Some people don’t have the funds, some people don’t have the money. But the intention is good. The intention is just always to be able to provide a better life for their loved ones, for their families and everything.”
When it comes to the drug problem, Hinojosa said cartels are successful in selling drugs across the border because there is a demand for it.
“Let’s be clear, we have a drug problem in this country that we have to deal with and address,” Hinojosa said. “This is not an immigration problem … let’s build [mental health resources] rather than just saying we’re going to close off the border, because that’s not going to solve it, that’s not going to cut the demand.”
Blanco Flores said while it can be frustrating to hear the “extreme” and “black-and-white” rhetoric about immigrants in the media and from politicians, she affirms the idea that all Americans are descendants of immigrants.
“I just want people to hold on to the belief that they are worthy and capable and deserving,” Blanco Flores said. “The American dream is still worth chasing.”
