Fear of what, then?

Perhaps.

And it wasn’t until the U.S. invaded Mexico and forced it to cede large swaths of its territory. Same with California, Arizona, Nevada, etc.

Puerto Rico didn’t exactly beg to be annexed, either.

I think a lot of this panic about Latin American people illegally taking over the United States stems from repressed colonial guilt.

Not pictured here are the scratches they got putting that thing on their cat. 😅