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“Language use
is the one domain where comparison with the past is pos-
sible, and here the evidence is that the traditional march
by successive generations toward monolingualism in
English is recurring.”
“As noted earlier, the evidence presented here clearly
establishes that the acquisition of English and the loss of
Spanish occur rapidly beginning with the second genera-
tion of Hispanic immigrants. While the initial level of
English-speaking is lower among Mexican than other immi-
grants, the rate of linguistic assimilation between genera-
tions is at parity if not more rapid for this group. Moreover,
whereas residential concentration in ethnic enclaves con-
tributes to the retention of Spanish, this does not slow the
learning of English, and bilingual Hispanics are more sim-
ilar in their political self-concept to English-dominant than
Spanish-dominant Hispanics.”
“Patriotic sentiment among Hispanics is pervasive. While
blacks and non-citizen Hispanics express slightly less patri-
otism than whites, after adjusting for differences in age
and education native-born Hispanics actually evidenced
higher levels of patriotism. And neither a tendency to refer
to oneself as a Hispanic-American rather than “just an
American” nor a strong sense of ethnic identification dimin-
ished expressions of patriotism.”
“From 1870 to 1920 fifteen percent of the total population was foreign born. Today that figure is down to eight percent.”
I don’t know if the above is true, since it came from an uncited article in a magazine, but maybe we should put a little more perspective into this?
The following is from a conservative think tank that I don’t agree with on everything, and being so they likely exxagerate/cook statistics (ala the Heritage Foundation, Economic Policy Institute, Cato Institute, etc.) but the figures are interesting nonetheless:
“Mexican-born men, for example, had higher labor force participation rates than native-born male workers, 88% compared with 83%, and lower unemployment rates than native workers, 4.4% compared with 5.1% in 2006. Labor force participation rates of illegal aliens are higher yet, a whopping 94%.”
(They’re all on welfare!)
“More importantly, the children of Hispanic immigrants are graduating from high school. The high school completion rate for young, U.S.-born Hispanics is 86%, only slightly lower than the 92% of non-Hispanic whites”
(They aren’t educating themselves!)
“But despite anxiety that Hispanics aren't learning English and will soon insist that the U.S. become bilingual, the evidence suggests otherwise. True enough, most Hispanic immigrants have poor English skills: The 2000 Census reported that 26 million people spoke Spanish at home, and of these, 14 million were unable to speak English well. But there is nothing unusual about this; historically most immigrant groups have taken a generation or more to produce fluent English speakers. In 1900, nearly 50 years after the peak period of German immigration, 600,000 students attended German bilingual schools in the U.S.
But if Hispanic immigrants have been slow to learn English, their American-born progeny have quickly adapted. English is the preferred language of virtually all U.S.-born Hispanics; according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center, indeed, 78% of third-generation Hispanics cannot speak Spanish at all. Even in Southern California, an area with the largest population of Spanish speakers in the nation, 96% of third-generation Mexican Americans prefer to speak English at home, according to a recent study by sociologists Ruben Rumbaut, Douglas Massey and Frank Bean.”
(They aren’t learning English and don’t want to!)
“…Population Reference Bureau notes in its 2005 study of intermarriage that, because most children of intermarriages are reported as Hispanic on Census data, "Hispanic intermarriage may have been a factor in the phenomenal growth of the U.S. Hispanic population in recent years, and it has important implications for future growth and characteristics of the Hispanic population." In other words, the widely cited prediction that by mid-century Hispanics will represent fully one third of the U.S. population fails to take into account that increasing numbers of these so-called Hispanics will have only one grandparent or great-grandparent of Hispanic heritage. At which point Hispanic ethnicity will mean little more than German, Italian or Irish ethnicity does today.”
(They’re takin’ over!)
Are "they" (illegal immigrants) all doing these things? Or are they just coming here to work, mostly, as the above information would imply?
And... getting back on topic, (sorry), if we had an influx of Canadian illegal immigrants, would you guys be pushing for punishments just as harsh? You know, mass deportation, imprisonment, "FairTax," turning away at emergency rooms? If not, would that be just?
Well, if all of these things about these exemplary individuals are true, it would be difficult to imagine why anyone would have any complaint with them, now wouldn't it?
Wouldn't be that difficult. Americans have historically had plenty of "complaints" (usually the same ones) about basically every non-English immigrant group that's come across our borders. The scary "Japs," the shiftless Irish, the crazy Chinamen, the squirmin' Germans...
I don't have the info at hand to challenge you. You're probably largely correct. If, as my "gut" tells me, you're trying to imply there's a racist angle to all this, that, too is correct. Anytime there's a conflict involving different racial groups, racism will find its way into the fray. The problem is in separating the "good", and disgruntled, American citizens, who certainly DO have a very legitimate "gripe", from the free-lance racists who obviously are going to profess an "interest" in this because of their great "patriotism" Between you and me, I seriously doubt that they're motivated by patriotism---but that's what they tell us.
I have an interracial family, and we could possibly be impacted by any unpleasantness associated with the increasing tensions over immigration. Nevertheless, it's a very serious issue, and needs to be addressed soon. It simply can't be allowed to continue as it is now. That's not a "feeling"--that's simple fact.
In a word? YES....
My wife is Thai, my best friend in the military is hispanic. Its not a race issue. Its an issue of law, an issue of right and wrong.
respectable... but "right" and "wrong" might not necessarily always coincide with "lawful" and "unlawful"...particularly when abject poverty & "northern opportunity" combine together.
Wouldn't be that difficult. Americans have historically had plenty of "complaints" (usually the same ones) about basically every non-English immigrant group that's come across our borders. The scary "Japs," the shiftless Irish, the crazy Chinamen, the squirmin' Germans...
The scary "Japs," the shiftless Irish, the crazy Chinamen, the squirmin' Germans came here legally.
respectable... but "right" and "wrong" might not necessarily always coincide with "lawful" and "unlawful"...particularly when abject poverty & "northern opportunity" combine together.
You see, there is this thing called the US border. And we have these immigration laws that are supposed to be obeyed. No country has the right to dump millions of their poor people on us and expect us to provide health care for them, educate them, house them and so forth. The citizens of the United States of American have done NOTHING to deserve this.
The citizens of Mexico have done nothing to deserve being born into poverty in Mexico.
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Between you and me, I seriously doubt that they're motivated by patriotism---but that's what they tell us.