In our Greenwich, Connecticut schools we have had many Japanese kids as well as some Hispanics. The Japanese kids almost all learn English within a year, and many of them integrate very well. The ones here for high school do well and most have as many American friends as Japanese. They move in what one might describe as 'normal' student circles: not the most elite or athletic cliques, but not as loners or outcasts. The Hispanics tend to have difficulty in school, with English and generally, and to limit their social integration to groups known locally as "ghetto," primarily black and hispanic kids (and white gangsta wannabes) who engage in socially unacceptable behaviors concerning drugs, sex, dress, smoking, scholastic achievement (or lack thereof), etc.
I just spent a week at Children's Hospital in LA with a friend whose daughter is critically ill.
(See prayer request at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/665591/posts?page=1,50)
I was really disgusted by all the welfare mothers coming for their "free" health care while chattering away on their cell phones. I thought I had been transported to Mexico. My friend and her husband have been out of work since August, but they were responsible enough to purchase health insurance.