In an interview with Jorge Ramos about her most recent book, Ann Coulter made headlines for declaring that Latina/o culture is deficient. If it wasn’t, she commented, the renowned Mexican journalist and Univision news anchor would be interviewing her in Mexico and not the United States. In her estimation, the source of Mexican political and economic problems was an inadequate culture. Mexicans who migrated to the U.S. brought with them this defective culture that vied with and diminished American culture. For her, the origins of American economic and political decline, arguably real but largely imagined, are in this unequal international cultural exchange. Coulter is intentionally polemical and she should not shock anybody familiar with her style. She is a product, perpetuator, and profiteer of our nation’s polarized politics. While her words are shocking, what is more telling about her statements is that they are not far from many of the ideas that influence immigration policy and how we think about immigrants in the United States. The ideas she expressed have a long history, rooted in the changing economy and demography of the twentieth century. They resuscitate outdated social theories that have been challenged for decades.
