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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

mexicanos arreglados

English translation:

documented Mexicans

Added to glossary by Myriam S
Mar 7, 2011 15:14
13 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

mexicanos arreglados

Spanish to English Other Slang Mexico
This comes from a transcript of a conversation, and the individual states: "Mis hijos están criados aquí en Texas y también son mexicanos arreglados," and then the conversation moves on to another subject matter.
How would I translate that expression into English?
Thanks for your help.
Proposed translations (English)
5 +1 documented Mexicans
3 +2 Legal(ised) Mexicans
3 +2 mexicans with papers (green cards)
3 "Fully paid up"
3 -1 considered Mexican citizens
3 -1 fixed Mexican citizens

Discussion

Muriel Vasconcellos Mar 7, 2011:
This is not the least bit ambiguous or confusing Living near the border, I am very familiar with the term. It boils down to having papers/documents - it's not about any particular type of status.
elena ry Mar 7, 2011:
Curiosa canción El Mexicano Arreglado He encontrado esta canción, un corrido, de los Razor de Sacramento. Dice más o menos "Cruzo la frontera cuando me da la gana. Con los papeles que tengo me dejan en paz en las aduanas (...), pero no lo olviden nunca, sigo siendo mexicano". No sé si te ayudará, Miriam. No dice si su status es de ciudadano o de residente, pero me ha parecido curioso.
philgoddard Mar 7, 2011:
Myriam Nine times out of ten, when someone says they have no context, they do. You are one of the ten percent - but I still think it's important to tell us everything you can about the document right at the beginning, rather than after repeated requests from us.
Myriam S (asker) Mar 7, 2011:
Elena, thank you for your explanation. You could be right. From this discussion, it has become clearer that it could be either way: Mexicans with papers or U.S.-born Mexicans with dual citizenship. Since the context doesn't help me make that determination. I wan the English reader to sense that same ambiguity. Are they Mexicans with legal satus or U.S. citizens with dual citizenship? I mostly wanted to make sure, since I don't live among the Mexican community in the U.S., that "arreglado" has a very specific meaning, and from these discussions it appears it does not.
elena ry Mar 7, 2011:
Miriam, esta es mi interpretación Si fueran ciudadanos estadounidenses, -la gran aspiración de muchos emigrantes en EEUU-, no diría son mexicanos sino son americanos. Como mucho diría "Americans of Mexican origin", pero americanos estadounidenses por encima de todo. Por otro lado los papeles o documentos se "arreglan", se decir se tienen legales, por eso pienso que tienen documentos legales de residencia ,y quizá trabajo, pero no de ciudadanía.
Myriam S (asker) Mar 7, 2011:
Thank you all for your efforts. I am as frustrated as you, and I agree that it is difficult to discern from that sentence what it means exactly. Perhaps this is not the best forum to figure it out. Thank you all
Myriam S (asker) Mar 7, 2011:
Phil, I can't tell you what the subject of discussion is throughout the transcript, and it doesn't have anything to do with the introduction; i.e. the person says their name and where they are from, and then the sentence I have already posted; then, they move on to a completely different subject. I am not being difficult. I just don't have any other relevant context to provide.
philgoddard Mar 7, 2011:
I give up. If you won't provide the context, I can't be bothered.
Myriam S (asker) Mar 7, 2011:
Evelyne, yes it is ambiguous. That is why I have asked for suggestions; and no, I don't have any additional context to provide. What I told you is really all I have to work with.
Evelyne Trolley de Prévaux Mar 7, 2011:
Impossible to translate accurately without the context!!!
philgoddard Mar 7, 2011:
It would help a lot if you gave the context I asked for.
Evelyne Trolley de Prévaux Mar 7, 2011:
It is very ambiguous in Spanish. Before the dual nationality, many Mexican born in the US were also registered as if they were born in Mexico.
Myriam S (asker) Mar 7, 2011:
It is not clear where the children were born. The individual only states that they were raised in Texas and, in my interpretation, they are also "fixed" Mexicans. I am asking for an appropriate register in English, comparable to what is said in Spanish, to say they are also Mexican citizens.
philgoddard Mar 7, 2011:
I think this may be ambiguous in the Spanish. Does it mean they were arreglados as Mexican or as US citizens? They were brought up in Texas, but were they born there? If so, they would automatically have US citizenship. Some context would help - why is the individual saying this, and what comes before it?

Proposed translations

+1
7 hrs
Selected

documented Mexicans

I also agree with 'Mexicans with papers'. I live on the border and am in daily contact with Mexicans who have made different types of arrangements to remain in the country. The opposite, politically correct term is 'undocumented Mexicans'.

You also see 'documented' and 'undocument immigrants' a lot.

Examples:

Victory Poker: Documented Mexicans May Apply. June 17th, 2010. Responding to my masterwork focusing on how Victory Poker has no known African American ...
www.newestcasinos.org/victory-poker-documented-mexicans-may...

Dec 20, 2010 ... The majority of citizens and documented Mexicans here in the USA will go on and survive…exist some way scraping by at the bottom of society.. ...
vivirlatino.com/.../monday-morning-musica-dreaming-of-you-selena.php

Apr 1, 2005 ... About 32 percent of undocumented Mexican workers and 40 percent of documented Mexicans were employed as agricultural laborers. ...
www.boisestate.edu/history/...issues/5f_numbers_mex.html

Just a side note, there are many legal and documented Mexicans, upset about the illegals too, it's not just natural born Americans. ...
www.city-data.com › ... › Illegal Immigration

... Construction capacity is available • 23 Million Documented Mexicans living In the US • 1 Million Mexicans in the US want and need to purchase a home in ...
www.slideshare.net/elagroue/conficasapresentation

Aug 25, 2010 ... A visible refugee crisis along the border — a wave of legal, documented Mexicans running for their lives — would shatter the government's ...
www.sfweekly.com/2010-08-25/news/asylum-denied/6/

In 2000, the US Census reported 20.6 million documented Mexicans in the US, representing 60 percent of the Hispanic/Latino population. ...
www.culturecareconnection.org/matters/diversity/hispaniclat...
Peer comment(s):
agree Heather Oland
14 hrs
Thanks, Heather!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you. This seems to be the best option. Thank you for all the references you provided."
+2
2 mins

Legal(ised) Mexicans

I think it means they have dual nationality
Peer comment(s):
agree Gabriella Bertelmann : agree
3 hrs
agree Aradai Pardo Martínez
4 hrs
neutral Muriel Vasconcellos : 'Legal' and 'illegal' are not politically correct terms in border communities. That's why the media have switched to 'documented'.
8 hrs
Something went wrong...
12 mins

"Fully paid up"

I f you want a slang expression to cover the meaning, in U.K. English at least.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Muriel Vasconcellos : The issue is too broad to narrow it to 'paid up'. It's about having the right papers/documents. 'Paid up' must be a British expression. It would not be clear in the current case, which is about Mexican immigrants in the US.
7 hrs
'paid up' is used in a figurative sense in this expression,Muriel
Something went wrong...
-1
1 hr

considered Mexican citizens

HTH
Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : I don't think you can say "considered" - they either are or they aren't citizens.
22 mins
As in "thought of" as Mexican citizens," becasue of their obviously close ties to that country, even though the have spent most of their time in the US..
disagree Muriel Vasconcellos : Their Mexican citizenship is not the question here.
6 hrs
Something went wrong...
+2
2 hrs

mexicans with papers (green cards)

Yo lo interpretaría como que tienen papeles de residencia en EEUU pero no nacionalidad americana.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2011-03-07 17:17:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Perdón: probably not a green card, but a resident permit
Peer comment(s):
agree Cecilia Rey
8 mins
Gracias, Cecilia.
agree Muriel Vasconcellos : I'd stop at 'with papers' - there are lots of other possibilties (I live 20 minutes from the border), and I wouldn't be too specific.
5 hrs
I agree, Muriel.
Something went wrong...
-1
3 hrs

fixed Mexican citizens

it is just as ambiguous as the source text
Note from asker:
Wonderful, Evelyne. Thank you. I've been thinking along the same lines...just leave the literal words, and let the experts decide or enquire further.
Peer comment(s):
disagree Muriel Vasconcellos : That's not what it means at all.
3 hrs
Something went wrong...
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