Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S.
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
View Poll Results: What is the most unassimilated immigrant community in America?
Miami Cubans 29 19.73%
Dearborn Arabs /Detroit area 51 34.69%
Rio Grande Valley Mexicans 25 17.01%
Southern California Mexicans 11 7.48%
San Francisco Chinese 17 11.56%
Boston Irish 2 1.36%
New Jersey Italians 2 1.36%
Louisiana French / Cajuns 3 2.04%
Upper Midwest Germans 3 2.04%
Hawaii Japanese 4 2.72%
Voters: 147. You may not vote on this poll

Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-26-2017, 05:20 PM
Status: "Save the children of Gaza" (set 8 hours ago)
 
Location: St. Louis Park, MN
7,723 posts, read 6,357,310 times
Reputation: 10382

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70 View Post
No, Tsarnaev identified as a Chechen Muslim, not as an American. In fact he had a lot of trouble fitting into American society which alienated him.

Regardless, I still think the argument about "upholding laws" and "assimilation" is silly. Many American born folks don't uphold laws or care for them. If you want to argue that Tsarnaev wasn't assimilated because he still held on strong to his Chechen heritage and didn't want to adapt an American identity, then you got a good argument, but to say he wasn't assimilated because he blow up a marathon, is not a good argument, because lots of horrible people killed and blew up places and they never even set foot outside this country.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-26-2017, 05:22 PM
Status: "Save the children of Gaza" (set 8 hours ago)
 
Location: St. Louis Park, MN
7,723 posts, read 6,357,310 times
Reputation: 10382
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70 View Post
What about New Jersey Italians? They're obviously different than Italians in Italy but most of them seek to stick together and not intermarry with anyone else and still act very Italian. Now I know this isn't the BEST example but in Jersey Shore the Italians on the show all wanted to specifically look for other Italians for their significant others. Jersey still has a large number of people with pure Italian ancestry who have not intermarried with other cultures. Their culture is also very distinct from "mainstream" American society and they've kept a lot of their Italian culture.
Thats more "self segregation" and "ethnic enclaving" than about assimilation. Those people are still very much American. I see nothing wrong with being proud of your heritage, you can do that while still being very much an American. Now if those people speak only Italian and use Italian customs and only listen to Italian music etc. etc. you got a different case.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2017, 05:28 PM
Status: "Save the children of Gaza" (set 8 hours ago)
 
Location: St. Louis Park, MN
7,723 posts, read 6,357,310 times
Reputation: 10382
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl View Post
Are you kidding me? The Cuban immigration policies didn't affect just those arriving by homemade boats since the 90s. It applied to any Cuban arriving by any means to any place in the United States for several decades. The entire policy wasn't about "wet foot, dry foot". The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 and the acceptance of massive boat lifts including Mariel lifts in the early 80s were all done under the umbrella of special immigration privileges that resulted in residency and a more rapid path to citizenship.
Well you shoulda been more specific, honey And I don't think Cubans have been all that privileged regarding immigration. Yes, the US made many laws making it easier for Cubans to come but you gotta remember, they were coming from a very oppressive dictatorship. If they came to the US, yea they'd have all these perks but that's IF they could come. And I wouldn't accredit the economic prosperity of the Cuban-American community to simply those "immigration privileges" because those privileges help you settle in the country, but they have nothing to do with the large Cuban-American middle class or the high amount of Cuban-American doctors and lawyers, and actors. They had nothing to do with the fact that my cousin who came to America as a toddler in the Mariel boatlift in 1980, came with nothing but the clothes on his back and now makes 1,000 dollars an hour. Thats got nothing to do with immigration policy that's got to do with economic mobility. He's by the way fully assimilated himself, speaks fluent English and married a Scandinavian-American woman from Minnesota. The immigration policy helped him and his parents get here, but his hard work got him the economic success he enjoys.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2017, 07:20 PM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,005,425 times
Reputation: 14759
Quote:
Originally Posted by BadgerFilms View Post
Well you shoulda been more specific, honey And I don't think Cubans have been all that privileged regarding immigration. Yes, the US made many laws making it easier for Cubans to come but you gotta remember, they were coming from a very oppressive dictatorship. If they came to the US, yea they'd have all these perks but that's IF they could come. And I wouldn't accredit the economic prosperity of the Cuban-American community to simply those "immigration privileges" because those privileges help you settle in the country, but they have nothing to do with the large Cuban-American middle class or the high amount of Cuban-American doctors and lawyers, and actors. They had nothing to do with the fact that my cousin who came to America as a toddler in the Mariel boatlift in 1980, came with nothing but the clothes on his back and now makes 1,000 dollars an hour. Thats got nothing to do with immigration policy that's got to do with economic mobility. He's by the way fully assimilated himself, speaks fluent English and married a Scandinavian-American woman from Minnesota. The immigration policy helped him and his parents get here, but his hard work got him the economic success he enjoys.
I think that you are underestimating the positive impact to ones life of not having to live in the margins of society as an undocumented immigrant. It was impossible for Cubans, once in the US, to be undocumented because they had special immigration privileges that gave them quick paths to green cards by simply being in the United States.
I admire that the Cuban people have been able to achieve success over the last 50 years but the impact of their immigration privileges certainly played a huge role by letting them live above board from the very start and without fear of deportation, manipulation by others to protect an immigration secret, arranged marriages to get green cards, etc.
Ask a Mexican, Colombian, Venezuelan, Haitian or any other immigrant who came here due to strife, poverty, war, etc. in their country and ask them if having Cubans' privileges would have given them an advantage.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2017, 11:25 PM
Status: "Save the children of Gaza" (set 8 hours ago)
 
Location: St. Louis Park, MN
7,723 posts, read 6,357,310 times
Reputation: 10382
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl View Post
I think that you are underestimating the positive impact to ones life of not having to live in the margins of society as an undocumented immigrant. It was impossible for Cubans, once in the US, to be undocumented because they had special immigration privileges that gave them quick paths to green cards by simply being in the United States.
I admire that the Cuban people have been able to achieve success over the last 50 years but the impact of their immigration privileges certainly played a huge role by letting them live above board from the very start and without fear of deportation, manipulation by others to protect an immigration secret, arranged marriages to get green cards, etc.
Ask a Mexican, Colombian, Venezuelan, Haitian or any other immigrant who came here due to strife, poverty, war, etc. in their country and ask them if having Cubans' privileges would have given them an advantage.
Why are you assuming that every other immigrant is undocumented? There's many legal immigrants from so many other countries. And a lot of them don't have the economic prosperity that Cubans tend to have. Some of them, some of them don't. But I don't think its connected to immigration laws. Cubans on the island tend to be very well educated, very literate, even if they live in 3rd world conditions. There's many skilled workers down there making scat, so when they can they come to America and they bring their talents. A lot of Cuban immigrants are doctors, this is very different for Mexican immigrants, legal or otherwise, many of which work blue collar jobs. Now there's still more blue collar Cuban immigrant workers than white collar, not saying they all work a nice suit and tie type job, but there's a higher proportion that do work in white collar professions and make a lot of money to boot.

Puerto Ricans have it even easier to get to the US, considering they're already citizens, yet they don't do as good economically as Cubans do, meaning its nothing to do with the immigration process. I mean with that logic you can argue that since a lot of Somalis came to the Twin Cities with Lutheran sponsored refugee programs, and they didn't have to go through the same hoops and hurdles that other immigrant groups do, they will do well economically but it doesn't work like that.

Cubans may have an advantage with immigration but it stops when they're in the states. They have to work just as hard as the rest of us, the only difference is they've created a major metropolitan enclave which honestly, has more to do with it than immigration laws.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-26-2017, 11:56 PM
 
Location: Florida
9,569 posts, read 5,555,998 times
Reputation: 12023
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buckeye614 View Post
The city of Miami/much of Miami-Dade County hands down.
That is because the Miami area has a 59% foreign born resident population.
In fact it has one of the highest foreign born populations not only in the US but the world according to the UN.

" Miami, with its large Cuban presence, ranks as the city with the largest foreign-born population in the world, says a United Nations report.

The report by the U.N. Development Program said 59 percent of the people in Miami, which is also home to migrants from the Caribbean and South America, were not born in the United States."


Miami has largest foreign-born population - UPI.com

Assimilation does occur just at a slower pace considering it is still attracting immigrants as we speak. Miami will always be a major immigrant city.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2017, 12:09 AM
 
Location: Lone Mountain Las Vegas NV
18,058 posts, read 10,213,260 times
Reputation: 8828
Are the Utah Mormons assimilated? Or have they simply developed their own parallel structure?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2017, 10:47 AM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,005,425 times
Reputation: 14759
Quote:
Originally Posted by BadgerFilms View Post
Why are you assuming that every other immigrant is undocumented? There's many legal immigrants from so many other countries. And a lot of them don't have the economic prosperity that Cubans tend to have. Some of them, some of them don't. But I don't think its connected to immigration laws. Cubans on the island tend to be very well educated, very literate, even if they live in 3rd world conditions. There's many skilled workers down there making scat, so when they can they come to America and they bring their talents. A lot of Cuban immigrants are doctors, this is very different for Mexican immigrants, legal or otherwise, many of which work blue collar jobs. Now there's still more blue collar Cuban immigrant workers than white collar, not saying they all work a nice suit and tie type job, but there's a higher proportion that do work in white collar professions and make a lot of money to boot.

Puerto Ricans have it even easier to get to the US, considering they're already citizens, yet they don't do as good economically as Cubans do, meaning its nothing to do with the immigration process. I mean with that logic you can argue that since a lot of Somalis came to the Twin Cities with Lutheran sponsored refugee programs, and they didn't have to go through the same hoops and hurdles that other immigrant groups do, they will do well economically but it doesn't work like that.

Cubans may have an advantage with immigration but it stops when they're in the states. They have to work just as hard as the rest of us, the only difference is they've created a major metropolitan enclave which honestly, has more to do with it than immigration laws.
Tell me exactly how I assumed that every other immigrant came here undocumented/illegally? I'm waiting.....
I never said that and why are you putting words in my mouth?

Puerto Ricans don't immigrate; they move. They are US citizens.

I said that I admired what the Cubans have been able to achieve but I completely disagree that their advantage stops when they get to the US. Their advantage actually began when they got to the United States because the legal and permanence of their status was guaranteed by special immigration laws that favored them. Sorry, but that's the truth.

Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine. He immigrated to the US legally and was working to become a doctor in the US after fleeing Colombia as a doctor. He was legally on a medical visa for years as he pursued the training and requirements that would allow him to be doctor in the US like he was in Colombia. He legally left the US for a vacation several years into his time in the US (again, legally) and when he came back into the US from the vacation, he was thrown in prison because his legal paperwork had a typo on it. After tens of thousands of dollars spent with attorneys and after spending months in a prison with suspected terrorists, he was released after going before a judge to claim asylum because that was the only legal avenue available to him because of the quagmire created by the typo. It was insane. Give me an example of that had happened to a Cuban immigrant over the past 50 years after being processed legally.

Cubans will begin to understand the immigration issues that others faced because they too are subjected to this system now that their privilege has been removed.

I stand by original statement.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2017, 01:16 PM
 
85 posts, read 90,824 times
Reputation: 121
Rio Grande/South TX the border has been fluid. Many work in the US & live in Mexico and vice versa.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-27-2017, 06:03 PM
 
626 posts, read 377,580 times
Reputation: 370
I can't believe the poll is missing the blatantly obvious.

I'll give a hint, these groups in the poll don't kill Americans nearly as much as the obvious one...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > General U.S.

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top