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But it is another ballad that perhaps best sums up the feelings of immigrants these days. "Ni Aqui Ni Alla" ("Neither Here nor There") is doused in the pessimism brought on by America's anti-immigrant atmosphere and Mexico's economic crisis and corruption scandals. The song doubts immigrants' chances of receiving justice and, finally, of being able to progresar on either side of the border: "Wherever you go, it's the same. My dreams, neither here nor there, will I ever realize."

It is a philosophical U-turn for a band whose music and career were founded, like the Mexican-immigrant community itself, on a healthy optimism and belief in the healing powers of hard work.

"You have to tell the truth - we're not good here or there," says Hernandez. "Anytime a Mexican does something good in the United States, there's someone waiting to take it away from him. You never know if, making money and living right, you're going to make it."