Some hispanic american politiacl activists say that we didnt cross the border the border crossed us what does that mean

Some Hispanics in the United States do not feel that they are unfairly construed as immigrants, when in fact many of them have lived in what is now the United States for longer than the U. S. has existed. Many Hispanics in New Mexico, for instance can trace their ancestry to Spanish settlements established in the late 1500s, long before the United States existed and a hundred years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Some Hispanics in Texas argue that they were living peacefully in that land as Mexican citizens until Anglo-Americans forcefully seized Texas from Mexico in the Texas War of Independence