Among the backers of such a museum is California Congressman Xavier Becerra. Becerra said that when he first visited Washington, D.C.'s Smithsonian Museum complex in the 1980s he thought is was "phenomenal" but it displayed "an incomplete picture of what it means to be an American."

In case you're wondering about the congressman's immigration position, Americans for Better Immigration gives Becerra an F- career grade and an F recent (2005-2008) grade.

Well, last week Congress approved a big public land measure and tucked into all the fine print was the authorization for a 23-member panel to "study the viability of a National Museum of the American Latino Community in Washington. Proponents hope the museum will rise above the din of the illegal immigration debate to highlight the contributions to U.S. society by the 45 million-strong Hispanic community."

There's already a Smithsonian Latino Center in D.C., which organizes itinerant exhibitions. But this proposal envisages a National Museum "to showcase Hispanic culture in the United States rather than the culture of the countries from which migrants originated." Not only is the museum to highlight famous American Hispanics, but to show how that "Hispanics have been intertwined with America at its earliest inception."