It might seem a little inconsistent, even hypocritical, to make the journey to the U.S., be glad you did, but still suggest others back home stay put.
But in my experience, many Latin American immigrants are as ambivalent about their lives in the U.S. as some Americans are about their presence here.
They are grateful to the U.S. for the opportunity to better themselves, but also proud of their roots to the south. They recognize the shortcomings of the countries they've left behind, but will defend their homelands against insults.
I told Jesus Javier Garcia, a 55-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Mexico, that some of my readers equate Mexico with drugs and thievery. This made him angry.
"Three weeks ago I was mugged in Long Beach," he told me. His attackers were three guys pretending to be beggars. They spoke English. He offered them a dollar and they punched him and took his wallet.
Crime in Mexico is, of course, especially scary these days. Garcia, a truck driver, told me he visits his Mexican relatives once a year. He said his old Guadalajara neighborhood "seems almost empty at night. No one goes out." One of his best friends was recently kidnapped and held for ransom.
Some Americans feel powerless before the many social changes wrought by Latin American immigration. The shoppers I met at Plaza Mexico feel equally at sea in the face of the inequality and violence in their homelands -- and they don't feel Latin Americans are entirely to blame.
"Here [in the U.S.] is where people use those drugs," Garcia said of the drug-related crime in Mexico. "If it wasn't for the people who bought them, there wouldn't be a problem over there."
Any DEA agent will tell you the same thing. Cocaine users in L.A. help pay the hit men who kill peasants in Guatemala to clear pathways for illicit jungle landing strips; meth users in rural America pay for the weapons that kill honest mayors and prosecutors in Mexican border towns.
The United States and Latin America are caught up in a really bad, complicated relationship; this isn't a view reserved for those vehemently against illegal immigration.
At Plaza Mexico, I found people who were just as frustrated with some immigrants as my angriest readers.
"People who don't obey the laws here cause the immigrant to be seen poorly," said Nora Estela Campos, a Salvadoran immigrant and naturalized U.S. citizen who operates a vendor's cart at Plaza Mexico.
