Hispanics have always been associated with America. We can easily trace this American-Spanish heritage in such city names as San Francisco, Los Angeles. As for food, people in the streets eat hamburgers and donuts as readily as tostada or tacos. When we look back, we see how Spain and Mexico played a key role in the making of America: Florida was ceded by Spain in 1819; Texas and parts of New Mexico were annexed in 1845; California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and parts of Colorado were ceded by Mexico in 1848. The word “Hispanic” is a catchall term applying to very different people. They are dissimilar in their national origins, their races, their social milieu and status in the US: they can be Puerto-Ricans, Carribeans from the West Indies (Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Barbados, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad), and Chicanos from Mexico or Latin Americans (Colombians, Ecuadorians, Nicaraguans...). They are white, black, Indian or of very mixed ancestry. Puerto-Ricans are US citizens from birth, so they are legal immigrants whereas other Hispanics have to apply for American citizenship. Illegal undocumented Chicanos who cross the Rio Grande on foot to work in the US are referred to as the Wetbacks.

Some Hispanics are well-to-do and qualified professionals like the Cubans fleeing the Communist regime of Fidel Castro or the South American dictatorships. The US thus benefits from a world-wide brain drain. Other Hispanics are poor, unskilled Mexican fruit pickers. Others easily work their way up into the American society, like the Cubans (called “super achievers” or Yuccas, Young Urban Cuban Americans) while others live below the poverty line, suffer from juvenile delinquency, poor educational opportunities and unemployment. Their dream of going back to their home often slows their integration into American society. As for the illegal Hispanics, they live outside cities in “Little Mexicos” or “barrios”. There is little chance of their learning English