I will try to be civil narby, I do not want my account banned, so I will say you need to look at reality. The reality is the educational and even religous instituions that in the past were in charge of Americanizing children of immigrants are now dominated by liberals, who have become entrenched in the last 40 years. The govrenmnet encourages non assimilation by brinting multi lingual ballots, and by affirmative action programs as well. Also unlike European immigrants in the past(and Asian immigrants now)the Mexican homeland is not that far away, so the cultural, social and political connections remain). So the way things stand, the deck is stacked against assimilation. If you do not see that narby, you are truely blind.
The only solution is to take a short term political and economic hit and hit those who employ illegals HARD. Have no mercy on those who hire illegals, and over the course of the next few years, millions will go home. In the 30s, over a million illegals then went back to Mexico, and in t he 50s, the US govrenment by enforcement of immigration laws sent over a million illegals packing. It is simple logic you fail to understand narby, if illegals have no jobs, they will pick up and leave.
Lastly, look again at the picture, that picture of the Mexican flag above an upside down American flag, this is what the business community has brought the US because of their greedy need for cheap labor, and this is what illegal immigration is about. This is where the mindset of many illegal aliens are, and as they are now, they are a clear and present danger to the US and her future. No amount of slogans and being a bleeding heart will change that reality.
I hear you. It's just that the deck is stacked higher against any kind of draconian action like many here are advocating.
A fence, sure. But no genuine action against employers will happen unless you want your corner supermarket to close it's produce market for a couple of years while a few million people are hired and moved to a couple of valleys in California.
The alternative is a guest worker program, and that's probably the only thing that will really work and keep things "legal". Any other option will be skirted by lawbreakers on every side, and this problem will continue and get worse.
I want to see these people made legal, so they can feel free to come out of the shadows and be real americans. Until then, they will never assimilate.
We have to roll out the legal "welcome mat" (not the figurative Great Society some have brought up here), or they will stay in their mexican culture forever.