It appears, that you are likely not that fuzzy.
No the welfare enticement was not there in "25".
My Grandparents fled religious and other types of persecution from their homes in Eastern Europe. (Roman Catholic)(Sarajevo)
I do not believe that the Mexicans are coming here for the welfare. If that were true, they would all be in Minnesota, Maine and Michigan which have lavish benefits compared to other states.
No, what we find there are Arabs, and people from Middle Eastern countries.
There is a cultural difference to be sure. They come for the work.
As to the assimilation, that problem is caused by the multicultural crowd that advocates english as a second language. If they had to learn english, they would. Just like our Grandparents did.
Another difference is the fact that(in the case of my Grandparents) immigrants of 100 years ago fled their home countries for many different reasons that may or may not have involved work. Family ties were severed for safety reasons and they avoided contact for the most part until years later. In my case they severed them permanently due to death threats.
We all know and understand, (I think) that immigration is necessary to keep the U.S. economy vibrant and young.
These folks are/have been here and we must do something to deal with it that is rational and politically possible to do.
I think this plan is a good start. Let's see what, if anything comes out of congress. They could and can screw it all up and make it a joke.
That 86 changes took four years to screw up and pass.
As well as the fact that they have no incentive to want to learn English since they have no legal status, and have no hope of being allowed to stay here since they know they can be deported at a moment's notice. People who are against normalizing their legal status should not be using Balkanization as a reason to oppose changing the status quo, since it is the status quo which is fostering this Balkanization.