Seriously, I’ve been called an ILLEGAL for being from a Spanish-speaking country and coming to the U.S. with paperwork. Also, my friend’s weird dad saw my name on a social media account when my friend was texting me and he said I was a “typical Mexican”. I am a white European Spanish woman, why do people assume I’m automatically Mexican?
It’s a complicated question, especially I imagine for someone not familiar with US culture. Whether a person from Spain is “white” is itself a complicated and irrational topic. IMO it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to be confused about. I’m from the US and I find it confusing myself.