Author, columnist advises:If in doubt, ask a Mexican

By Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, July 3, 2007 | 7:36 a.m.

Gustavo Arellano was checking the torrent of gloating e-mails on his laptop while commenting on the signature dishes of Michoacan, Mexico, on the menu.

One message read, "Now you cockroaches can go back to cleaning toilets," referring to the fate of millions of Mexicans nationwide after Congress last week scuttled what might have been the biggest change to immigration laws in two decades.

"And that was the nicest one," Arellano said.

Then he recommended carnitas, the roast pork.

It was a day in the life of the 28-year-old author of the syndicated column "Ask a Mexican " and the recently published book of the same title.

Fast becoming one of the nation's most visible Mexican-Americans in print, Arellano was displaying two of his passions - politics and food.

But he might have forever remained at the OC Weekly, a restaurant critic and investigative reporter, had he not hit on the idea in late 2004 of answering questions about everything Mexican.

Now his column is in 22 weeklies across the nation and he contributes op-ed pieces to the Los Angeles Times. He's also promoting his book across the region, including a visit Thursday to the valley's only bookstore specializing in Latin themes, Aztlan Books y Mas.

So his swelling notoriety made him the perfect bull's-eye Thursday morning, meaning the mail started hitting the in-box within two hours of Congress killing the bill.

"I'm horrified by the gloating of a lot of Americans," Arellano said of the tone in most of the messages. "It's as if they had captured bin Laden and were hanging his head on TV."

The vitriol, the profanity, didn't faze him, however.

"It makes sense when you think about it if you present yourself as an authority on all things Mexican," he said.

And that's what Arellano has done. The Anaheim, Calif.-born son of an illegal immigrant and tomato canner has given the nation carte blanche to ask him about everything from Mexican mustaches to the question on the lips of Minutemen everywhere: "What is it about the word illegal that Mexicans don't understand?"

He uses equal parts vitriol, profanity, satire and research to answer. The "illegal" question earned a six-part reply that began with, "When paying their gardeners, nannies, bus boys and factory workers in cash (and forgetting to withhold payroll taxes), U.S. employers don't seem to understand the word illegal, so why should Mexicans?"

He has teed off Gonzalezes and Parkers alike. He now has a 175-page backlog of unanswered questions, and Thursday's events are drawing some that may get bumped up on the list as he prepares a special column for two weeks from now on "amnesty."

Scanning the room at Lindo Michoacan on E ast Desert Inn Road, he spoke about the effects of Thursday's events on the Las Vegas Valley and other cities nationwide with large Hispanic and other immigrant populations.

In the Las Vegas Valley, there may be as many as 150,000 undocumented immigrants, according to some estimates. There are at least 450,000 Hispanics, 70 percent of whom are Mexicans or of Mexican descent. So the possibility of coming out from the shadows and becoming citizens affected many households.

"Now you're going to have a lot of people disappointed," Arellano said.

"People will also feel ... more hated. They will be more self-segregated. The only relationship people will have with Mexicans is at a restaurant or a hotel."

Later that night, he seemed to be in his element during a gathering of 30 at the Charleston Boulevard bookstore that included assorted cousins who have settled in the valley.

He explained the purpose of his book and columns to the small room. "First and foremost, I wanna debunk stereotypes. We're human beings. We're not aliens."

Then he used the example of his own family to illustrate a point he makes often - if given a chance, Mexicans assimilate, learn English, go to college, become successful.

And he asked a rhetorical question, using the vocabulary of that morning's e-mailers.

"It perplexes me in a way - what's so wrong about this invasion?"