Actually the first Hispanics to become part of this country (USA) did not do so by migration, but were rather engulfed by the United States in its process of expansion- sometimes by purchase, sometimes by military conquest, and sometimes by single annexation of territories no one was strong enough to defend… Thus in the beginning it was not Hispanics who migrated to this nation, but this nation that migrated to Hispanic lands.

Justo González, Manana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective