Posted on 05/18/2006 5:14:48 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted yesterday it's "just not clear" if his Mexican-immigrant grandparents settled in the U.S. legally.
The nation's top cop - who is the first Hispanic attorney general - has become a pointman for the White House on divisive immigration reforms President Bush is pushing.
"Three of my grandparents were born in Mexico. They came to Texas," Gonzales told CNN.
Pressed by Wolf Blitzer, Gonzales conceded he didn't know if they sneaked across the border like millions of illegals at issue in the current debate.
"It's unclear. It's unclear," Gonzales said. "And I've looked at this issue, I've talked to my parents about it, and it's just not clear."
Gonzales has often cited his grandparents' Mexican heritage and his dirt-poor upbringing in Texas in a big family headed by his migrant worker parents.
"My grandparents were Mexican immigrants. I remember visiting them as a very young boy - there was no telephone in their house, no television, no running hot water," Gonzales said during a naturalization ceremony for new citizens in December.
Gonzales is the latest in a series of Washington politicians to talk about their immigrant heritage.
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) recently recalled how his illegal Italian-immigrant mother was arrested by the feds in 1943.
This is a pretty common story about a Ramsey ancestor in the 1600s.
I gather he was evading paying his fare and had no trouble, otherwise, with La Migra.
Only question I've had about this is this guy went to a lot of trouble to get here at a time when men were regularly kidnapped to fill out ships' crews for the Europe to America part of the voyage. There were no shortages of volunteers to take the boats back to Europe you understand.
He may simply have been too young.
It should be fairly easy to confirm. Do they have naturalization certificates?
I read through that hurriedly, but Ididn't see the part where he was on the board with a state affiliate of La Raza. THAT is why I don't trust him.
It was only after a ruinous revolution that they finally settled into a semi-democratic form of government remarkably similar to our own.
It's a love/hate relationship.
BTW, if you watched the movie La Bamba, you find that Rickey Valens father was a WWI American veteran and his brother (an ex-con) ended up as a Disney cartoonist. I suppose he and his family would be identified as others as Mexican-Americans. On the other hand, once you are a wartime military veteran it's different.
Who really cares? Gonzales is an American citizen.
Why are you posting from wikipedia? Anyone can write to any topic. I will not let my students use it for a source. You should not use it as well.
It does pin the "so what?" indicator, doesn't it? This is no different than one of those "your papa was a Nazi" stories.
"But, at least to you it seems, it's okay to have a possible anchor baby as United States Attorney General? Are you out of your mind?
Good grief now are people going to start talking about Anchor Grandbabies.
I remember visiting my maternal grandparents as a very young boy - there was no telephone in their house, no television, no running hot water, and they cooked on a wood stove. They were not illegal immigrants!
(Met 2 Aussies at a meeting in S. Texas yesterday, Dasher. They both work for Santos.)
Did the Mexicans shoot at him? then they thought so
WWII
About 35,000 non-citizens are currently serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces, while another 12,000 serve in the Reserve Components. The navy has the largest proportion of non-citizens on active duty, almost 16,000, nearly half the total. The Marine Corps has about 6,500, the Army about 5,000, and the Air force about 3,000.
I've read about the Aztec Eagles...awesome men. Thanks for the links.
You better hit the history books. My grandparents came through Ellis Island circa 1904. Diseased people were turned back. Sent back to Europe
Ellis Island Passenger Arrivals : American Family Immigration ...
| Between 1892 and 1924 over 22 million passengers and members of ships' crews came through Ellis Island and the Port of New York. www.ellisisland.org/ - 22k - May 17, 2006 - |
They never found Villa, it was mostly reprisals for Villa's north of the border raids.
He came home for a bit and followed Blackjack to France for some Huns hunting with the Expeditionary Forces
You are quite right diseased people were sent back to Europe. However the average transfer time I read for Ellis Island was less than a day for about everyone else
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