R.G. Ratcliffe over at the Houston Chronicle has a good analysis over the differences within the Texas Hispanic community regarding the current immigration debate. Andy Hernandez, director of the 21st Century Leadership Center at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, makes some good observations noted in the article regarding why the protest marches are stronger in the the cities of Houston or Dallas rather than populations in South Texas:
"Most of (the protests) are immigrant-driven marches. That's why you haven't had any big ones in San Antonio," Hernandez said.
"Houston and Dallas probably mirror Los Angeles and California more than does Texas (as a whole, or) San Antonio, Corpus Christi," and South Texas, he said. "The reason there's not a large immigrant population there is simple, there's no jobs. ... Immigrants come to work."
A national Pew Center poll found foreign-born Latinos overwhelmingly believed immigrants strengthen the U.S. economy, but 34 percent of the native-born Hispanics said immigrants hurt the economy by driving wages down. Such are subtleties missed by most of the reporting regarding the ongoing debate on immigration. As the debate continues it is always helpful to remember that Hispanics are not a monolithic group but rather a diverse group with different ideas and interests.
The USA Today has a similar story.
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