Why is there so much resentment against the current 13 million plus immigrants who have, in recent years, entered the United States illegally (saying they are simply undocumented misses or covers up that fact)? Why is there so much anger among many Americans about any proposal to grant them amnesty, allowing them to remain here, with minimal or no punishment, putting them on a track toward citizenship? Why such resentment and anger?
There are a number of reasons. One is their large number and omnipresence in many parts of the country. This is made very noticeable by their predominately “brown” skin color, Spanish language and Hispanic culture. However, there are many people of “color”, speaking a variety of languages, in the United States. Perhaps the resentment and anger is primarily a response of “white“, English-speaking Americans who feel increasingly threatened (or very uncomfortable) by the demographic changes of this country’s population in general. (We realize we are rapidly becoming a minority in the land where we were born and we do not like that.) The seemingly recent and “sudden” influx of Hispanic immigrants, legal or not, has exacerbated these feelings. We feel we are losing the country we have known and loved and, in this case, to millions of people culturally different from us, who have no legal right to be here. I am not here defending this feeling, only expressing its existence and saying something often not openly expressed in the debate.
