I have resided in the OC for over 60 years with only a break of two years for military service.
There have always been Hispanics. Most now are 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th generation natural born citizens, and GOP/conservative derision doesn’t help.
My soon to be 91 year old mother has elementary school photos from nearby Whittier in the 1930s with about 1/3 of her class being Hispanic.
By now a great many families that have been in the area for any time, are intermarried with Hispanics. Mine is.
The town in Colorado from which I came before moving to Calif. is agricultural, and now 39% Hispanic. When I left there in 1954 the city street-water truck driver had me convinced he was the Cisco Kid.
Most Hispanics in the US today are NOT immigrants. The are natural born citizens.
BTW in Reagan’s time, Asians voted Republican in California.
Continuing to be identified as anti-immigrant does not help the GOP.
You are right...I had many Hispanic friends.And their families had lived there many years.
I dated Hispanic girls.....
The thing I don't think you are seeing...is the illegal immigration that is ruining Calif. It's the not the legal 3rd, 4th generation of native Hispanic's that are ruining the state.
It's the illegals.....!!