@jym626, the identity of exile, of not belonging, could be considered as a part of the identity of many South American families. I do not pretend to understand what it means to identify, but it may be important for a teenager to understand any feelings of displacement or not belonging, which, as a cohort, is a common identity of those who fled WW II to South America. Why should he not identify with that Exile culture if it is something that pervades his being? Some stayed months or a few years; some stayed lifetimes- they are still a part of that social epoch. Maybe I am being dramatic, and it does not pervade his being. I don’t know. Researching and understanding this out-migration may help him to surface and sort out feelings he does not even know he has. I would not presume to make that value judgment. I would not tell someone NOT to research his roots in a public forum. I do not know what it means to identify with this cohort of persecuted exiles and their progeny.
Should [s]he [identify as latino]? Who are you (or I) to say without a much deeper understanding?
The original question did not ask “Should”:
Also, I choose the masculine pronoun “he” simply because the OP used “latino”, not “latina”.