Mexican American's elegant before a rejection (7)

I believe the answer is:

chicano

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'mexican american's' is the definition.
'chicano' can be an answer for 'american's' (I've seen this before). I am unsure of the 'mexican' bit.

'elegant before a rejection' is the wordplay.
'elegant' becomes 'chic' (I've seen this before).
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'rejection' becomes 'no' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'chic'+'a'+'no'='CHICANO'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for chicano that I've seen is " American".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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