The Latino Threat An Imposing Threat Of The Hispanic

The Latino Threat is a concept of an imposing threat of the Latino, whether they be from Mexico or any other Latin country, and how they affect the U.S. and its citizens. This concept is described heavily Leo R. Chavez’ book aptly titled The Latino Threat. In the book, he describes how the Latino threat as a concept has been used routinely to underline the aspect of United States citizenship in a tit for tat manner; that being dehumanizing the Latino to raise the standing of U.S. citizenship. The U.S. as a nation believes it should feel better about itself because it is the one that turns people away rather than being the place where people run from. Over the history of America this isolationist view on illegal immigrants has waned and†¦show more content†¦Since Chavez brilliantly uses this heavily biased article toward the beginning of his book, it lays out one of the main prospects that he talks about throughout the span of the book. Chavez describes the Time cover, â€Å"Time Magazine’s June 11, 2001, cover image illustrated just how subtly the idea of the reconquest, or Mexican takeover of the United States, could be evoked.† (39) Chavez also has claims throughout the book of a hypocritical America; being a nation of immigrants that will not recognize this new sect of people living among us as legal citizens; because sarcastically he states throughout the book that American citizenship is one of solid guidelines that haven’t been changed time and time again. Although Chavez’ argument finds that last statement very sarcastic, this how many Americans are conditioned to think in the indoctrination of becoming a citizen. The three approaches to the Latino Threat helps define what it means to be an American citizen; that of dehumanization of Mexicans, the threat of Mexicans retaking America and the ultimate hypocrisy of this whole predicament of immigration and this paper will dive further in the nooks and crannies of Chavez’ writing in this book and what he feels is the definition of an American. The first way being an American citizen is defined by the Latino threat is the dehumanization of Mexicans. History repeats itself time and time