California and Texas were both part of Mexico before they became part of the US. Most Hispanics here are not recent immigrants, just bilingual Americans from a proud cultural heritage.
Thank you! So many people ask me if I was an immigrant or if my parents were, and refer to me as an illegal or other terms that are really rude. Then I explain to them that my family was in Texas when it was still part of Mexico, then when the U.S. bought Texas my family became american citizen. So while my parents may still speak spanish and keep a lot of our Mexican culture we are just as American as anyone else.