The hell, they are. A group of Central and South American students (all of whom were enjoying the hospitality of American taxpayers via the Fulbright Program) I knew once got away with making that claim to me, in order to deny my own American identity, but in crossing paths with tens of thousands of Hispanic immigrants, not once has one ever identified himself to me as an "American." They said they were "Mexicans," "Dominicans," "Ecuadorans," "Colombians," etc. As did the Fulbrights, when I initially made their acquaintance.