[Oratam]

Watching COPS over the years, I’ve noticed that law enforcement along our southern border and in much of the intermountain west is about half people with Spanish surnames. They all act and sound pretty American to me.

[hinckley buzzard]

I finished my army days with a national guard tank battalion from Yuma area. Most of the troops were Hispanic Americans, and a more gung ho bunch you could not wish for.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Hence chaps like Sheriff Arpaio.

OK they have a clownish side sometimes, nobody accuses them of being the perpetual picture of decorum, but they also have the git-r-done redneck side.

[Albion Wilde]

Watching COPS over the years, I’ve noticed that law enforcement along our southern border and in much of the intermountain west is about half people with Spanish surnames. They all act and sound pretty American to me.

Even on its 1990 list, the Census Bureau lists dozens of the old-time Spanish settler names in its top 1000 Most Common Surnames in the U.S. (in order of frequency):

Garcia, Martinez, Rodriguez, Hernandez, Lopez, Gonzalez, Perez, Sanchez, Rivera, Torres, Ramirez, Flores, Diaz, Cruz, Ortiz, Gomez, Morales, Ramos, Reyes, Ruiz, Chavez, Gutierrez, Vasquez, Castillo, Alvarez, Fernandez, Garza, Romero, Mendoza, Moreno, Medina, Silva, Vargas, Herrera, Soto, Jimenez, Castro, Lucas, Pena, Mendez, Santiago, Guzman, Munoz, Valdez, Santos, Delgado, Aguilar, Vega, Ortega, Maldonado, Rios, Guerroro, Estrada, Sandoval, Colon, Alvarado, Padilla, Nunez, Figueroa, Cortez, Luna, Marquez, Ayala, Vazquez, Acosta, Espinoza, Molina, Dominguez, Contreras, Deleon, Navarro, Robles, Avila, Trevino, Salinas, Campos, Montoya, Guerra, Gallegos, Miranda, Pacheco, Rojas, Serrano, Trujillo, Juarez, Villareal, Carrillo, Mercado, Velez, Camacho, Rivas, Ochoa, Cardenas, Cantu, Fuentes, Salas, Santana, Cabrera, Cervantes, Zamora, Suarez, Rosario, Melendez, Aguirre, Franco, Calderon, Valenzuela, Acevedo, Barrera, Rosales, Macias, Sosa, Nieves, Valencia; Delacruz, DeJesus.