I’m from Mexico, but I’ve never traveled to latin american countries, I have no idea how cultures are in other latin american countries, yet for some reason, I’m latino?? I don’t want to identify as that, can I just identify as something else?? I mean some americans who have Irish ancestry say they are Irish, and I have spaniard ancestry, so can I say I’m spaniard??
I would say Mexican of Spanish heritage counts as “Latino” or “Hispanic” in the US, yes. It’s a broad category here. You are also North American of European heritage. And yes of course, identify however the heck you want.
I think that in official United States forms they ask you your race, what if I chose “white”?? Is it illegal there to do that? Here they don’t ask for your race.
No, it’s not illegal, in fact it’s legal to leave it blank. The reason to choose Hispanic/Latino on forms is just to get information about discrimination and population trends. It’s supposed to benefit those groups not harm them, like there are school scholarships available for people from specific places, things like that.
Don’t overthink it. You identify how you identify, most people are more than one category here.