I'm a Texas guy, born and raised in Houston. My parents are from Texas. My grandparents are from Texas. Six of eight great-grandparents are from Texas, one is from Ohio and the other New York. Seven of sixteen great-great-grandparents are from Texas and the others I know one is from Germany and another from Spain. The others I have no idea. Family history is a mix of oral and recorded history.
Somewhere in my ancestry, the borders changed, a new nation was founded and later became a state. I'm a mutt. I've been defined as an American of Mexican descent my whole life, but that utterly fails to define me.
Why?
It is simple you see; I know nothing of Mexico. I don't speak Spanish and neither do any of my cousins in my generation. Of the eleven people in my parents' generation, six speak Spanish and only two can read it. In my grandparents generation, they all were fluent with both English and Spanish, though they spoke/speak with a mix - Spanglish as we call it.
Living in Houston, as the Hispanic population has increased dramatically illustrates to me how divergent this population is. My ethnic profile may be Hispanic, but I have few cultural ties there. (Its funny that two of my cousins call themselves Mexican, but they've only been to Mexico for their honeymoons.)
I work with several people who are becoming citizens, their kids are citizens because they were born here. Some of them are offended that I don't speak Spanish. Its strange how this is viewed by different groups. There are those, like me, whose families have been part of Texas since it was Texas, and then there are the more recent immigrants, first and second generations, who have stronger ties with a 'mother country.' As far as I'm concerned, the United States is my mother country. (Hell, my last name is Castilian in origin.) But the speaking of Spanish incites a passion that is very strong. Coming up through the school district here, I came to know dozens of kids of Hispanic descent who didn't speak Spanish.
The reason I'm writing all this is simple. The U.S. Hispanic or Latino population is incredibly divergent. To say that one issue or another will unite that vote is misleading. Immigration may cut one way for a group that is one or two, possibly three generations removed from immigrating, but those that are further away may not see it as they do.
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California all used to be part of Mexico. Parts of Colorado and Wyoming used to be part of Mexico as well. I've no idea how many families of Mexican descent stayed in these areas after they became part of United States, but they are there. How they might view immigration and assimilation will probably be different than more recent immigrants. I'm not sure, it's a guess.
The point is, Hispanics, or Latinos as it is now called, are a vast divergent group. Many editorials are being written or have been written about this voting block and what it means for Super Tuesday. I have no insight to offer on how Super Tuesday will turnout. What I do know is that people will ultimately vote for the candidate that makes them feel like they understand their problems. It is identity politics, but not solely of race and gender. It is an empathetic connection that a leader really "gets it" that will make all the difference when it comes down to voting.
I'm a Democratic American Mutt in Texas and will be pushing people come this fall to vote Democratic as well.