Besides the fact that Hispanic was an artifically contrived classification that was developed for a number of reasons, including creating another victim class that could have benefits conferred on them such as affirmative action and minority business set asides, we are having a real problem in assimilation in this country. Language is one of the factors that can affect how well an immigrant assimilates into this culture.
Professor Huntington of Harvard wrote a great article in Foreign Affairs (2004), The Hispanic Challenge that is well worth the read even today. His point about language is on the mark. It is pertinent because Hispanics comprise 16% of the population today, up from 1% in 1970 and they will be a third of the US population by 2050 according the Bureau of the Census. Immigrantion and birthrates will ensure that result.
"The persistent inflow of Hispanic immigrants threatens to divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages. Unlike past immigrant groups, Mexicans and other Latinos have not assimilated into mainstream U.S. culture, forming instead their own political and linguistic enclaves—from Los Angeles to Miami—and rejecting the Anglo-Protestant values that built the American dream. The United States ignores this challenge at its peril."
"The size, persistence, and concentration of Hispanic immigration tends to perpetuate the use of Spanish through successive generations. The evidence on English acquisition and Spanish retention among immigrants is limited and ambiguous. In 2000, however, more than 28 million people in the United States spoke Spanish at home (10.5 percent of all people over age five), and almost 13.8 million of these spoke English worse than “very well,” a 66 percent increase since 1990. According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, in 1990 about 95 percent of Mexican-born immigrants spoke Spanish at home; 73.6 percent of these did not speak English very well; and 43 percent of the Mexican foreign-born were “linguistically isolated.” An earlier study in Los Angeles found different results for the U.S.-born second generation. Just 11.6 percent spoke only Spanish or more Spanish than English, 25.6 percent spoke both languages equally, 32.7 percent more English than Spanish, and 30.1 percent only English. In the same study, more than 90 percent of the U.S.-born people of Mexican origin spoke English fluently. Nonetheless, in 1999, some 753,505 presumably second-generation students in Southern California schools who spoke Spanish at home were not proficient in English."
"Spanish retention is also bolstered by the overwhelming majorities (between 66 percent and 85 percent) of Mexican immigrants and Hispanics who emphasize the need for their children to be fluent in Spanish. These attitudes contrast with those of other immigrant groups. The New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service finds “a cultural difference between the Asian and Hispanic parents with respect to having their children maintain their native language.” In part, this difference undoubtedly stems from the size of Hispanic communities, which creates incentives for fluency in the ancestral language. Although second- and third-generation Mexican Americans and other Hispanics acquire competence in English, they also appear to deviate from the usual pattern by maintaining their competence in Spanish. Second- or third-generation Mexican Americans who were brought up speaking only English have learned Spanish as adults and are encouraging their children to become fluent in it. Spanish-language competence, University of New Mexico professor F. Chris Garcia has stated, is “the one thing every Hispanic takes pride in, wants to protect and promote.”
Perhaps equally important, business groups seeking to corner the Hispanic market support bilingualism as well. Indeed, the orientation of U.S. businesses to Hispanic customers means they increasingly need bilingual employees; therefore, bilingualism is affecting earnings. Bilingual police officers and firefighters in southwestern cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas are paid more than those who only speak English. In Miami, one study found, families that spoke only Spanish had average incomes of $18,000; English-only families had average incomes of $32,000; and bilingual families averaged more than $50,000. For the first time in U.S. history, increasing numbers of Americans (particularly black Americans) will not be able to receive the jobs or the pay they would otherwise receive because they can speak to their fellow citizens only in English.
"In the debates over language policy, the late California Republican Senator S.I. Hayakawa once highlighted the unique role of Hispanics in opposing English. “Why is it that no Filipinos, no Koreans object to making English the official language? No Japanese have done so. And certainly not the Vietnamese, who are so damn happy to be here. They're learning English as fast as they can and winning spelling bees all across the country. But the Hispanics alone have maintained there is a problem. There [has been] considerable movement to make Spanish the second official language.”
"If the spread of Spanish as the United States' second language continues, it could, in due course, have significant consequences in politics and government. In many states, those aspiring to political office might have to be fluent in both languages. Bilingual candidates for president and elected federal positions would have an advantage over English-only speakers. If dual-language education becomes prevalent in elementary and secondary schools, teachers will increasingly be expected to be bilingual. Government documents and forms could routinely be published in both languages. The use of both languages could become acceptable in congressional hearings and debates and in the general conduct of government business. Because most of those whose first language is Spanish will also probably have some fluency in English, English speakers lacking fluency in Spanish are likely to be and feel at a disadvantage in the competition for jobs, promotions, and contracts."
Now, it may be that you and others here are not anti-Hispanic, but don’t tell me there aren’t a portion of people who ARE, and they are on both sides of the aisle. We just had police called in to a gang fight at one of the high schools between blacks and Hispanics.
The Left has been very successful in making anti-illgal immigrant into anti Hispanic and then blurring the line between legal and illegal immigrant. Blacks and Hispanics have been at odds with another because they are competing for the same jobs and political position. They share many common characteristics that don't bode well for the formation of a permanent underclass. Hispanics have an out of wedlock birthrate of 50% topped only by the black rate of 71%. Hispanics have school drop out rates of over 50% with blacks coming in second as a group this is the social pathology for failure in our society. The unemployment rate (BLS for April) for blacks is 13% and for Hispanics 10.1%.
Educational attainment among Hispanics remains very low. Just 10% of foreign-born and 13.5% of native Latinos have finished college, placing the group's completion rate at about a third of the national average.
If people really were serious about this issue then why didn’t the GOP accept the guest worker program President Bush put forth? This issue has been hijacked by people who are not interested in a solution and are simply stirring the bad feeling.
First, we already have a large guest worker program that has close to two million people here on temporary work visas. Here is a list of all the various work visas permitted for entry into the US.
Second, do we really need more guest workers at a time when 22 million Americans are looking for full time employment? Is There a Shortage of Skilled Foreign Workers?
Third, we bring in 1.2 million legal immigrants a year. 25% of the adults lack even a high school education. Do we need more high school dropouts in this country. We just had the biggest number of immigrants in the decade ending in 2010, yet the decade experienced a net loss of jobs. Our immigration policy is not bringing in the kinds of immigrants we want or in the numbers we want.
Finally, we are bringing in 125,000 legal foreign workers a month now that includes permanent immigrants and those here on temporary work permits. We created 119,000 jobs last month.
125,000 brand new foreign workers with work permits each month -- HERE'S THE PROOF
The rest could become permanent legal residents without citizenship privileges.
What kind of message does that send to the 3 million intending legal immigrants waiting their turn to enter overseas? They have completed the required paperwork, background checks, and physicals.
Do you really believe we could create a permanent legal class of residents of this country who could never become citizens despite paying taxes, SS, serving in the military, etc. It would never pass constitutional muster. And why should we reward illegality?
Conservatives are fond of saying the liberals are the ones who make decisions on emotions, but I haven’t seen evidence of much rationality on the conservative side over the last 6 years. Either the premise is wrong, or we have a lot of people who are not conservatives here. Take your choice.
What I am truly amazed at is how ill-informed most Americans are about the immigration issue, which I believe is the defining issue of our time.
Immigration, legal and illegal, has had and will continue to have a major and far-reaching impact across a broad spectrum of existential challenges that confront this nation, e.g., national security, the economy/global competitiveness, jobs, health care, taxes, energy independence, education, entitlement reform, law enforcement, social welfare programs, physical infrastructure, the environment, civil liberties, and a continued sense of national identity/shared sense of endeavor. Immigration policy is the defining issue of our time with enormous implications for the future of this nation and the preservation of our patrimony. Changes to our existing immigration policies should be an integral part of the solutions to our problems. Yet, rarely will you read or hear immigration policy linked to these challenges by the political and media elites. Instead, legal immigration has become the third rail of American politics—for Republicans only.
Malkin wrote a book on immigration some time ago. She understands the issue far better than most conservatives as does Pat Buchanan who has taken plenty of heat for this views. Those of us who are actively involved in the issue are used to being called nativists, racists, and bigots. But facts are facts. Unless we have an immigration policy that serves the interests of this nation, we will continue to be transformed into a far different nation, which no longer shares the vision and values of our Founders.
The U.S. adds one international migrant (net) every 36 seconds. Immigrants account for one in 8 U.S. residents, the highest level in more than 90 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. In a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest it has been in our history. And by 2050, one in 5 residents of the U.S. will be foreign-born.
Currently, 1.6 million legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year; 350,000 immigrants leave each year, resulting in a net immigration of 1.25 million. Since 1970, the U.S. population has increased from 203 million to 310 million, i.e., over 100 million. In the next 40 years, the population will increase by an additional 130 million to 440 million. Three-quarters of the increase in our population since 1970 and the projected increase will be the result of immigration. The U.S., the world’s third most populous nation, has the highest annual rate of population growth of any developed country in the world, i.e., 0.963% (2011 estimate,) principally due to immigration.
The nation’s immigrant population (legal and illegal) reached 40 million in 2010, the highest number in our history. The U.S. immigrant population has doubled since 1990, nearly tripled since 1980, and quadrupled since 1970, when it stood at 9.7 million. Of the 40 million immigrants in the country in 2010, 13.9 million arrived in 2000 or later making it the highest decade of immigration in American history, even though there was a net loss of jobs during the decade. Growth in the immigrant population has primarily been driven by high levels of legal immigration. Roughly three-fourths of immigrants in the country are here legally. With nearly 12 million immigrants, Mexico was by far the top immigrant-sending country, accounting for 29 percent of all immigrants and 29 percent of growth in the immigrant population from 2000 to 2010.
87 percent of the 1.2 million legal immigrants entering annually are minorities as defined by the U.S. Government and almost all of the illegal aliens are minorities. By 2019 half of the children 18 and under in the U.S. will be classified as minorities and by 2039, half of the residents of this country will be minorities. Generally, immigrants and minorities vote predominantly for the Democrat Party. Hence, Democrats view immigration as a never-ending source of voters that will make them the permanent majority party.
57% of immigrant headed households with children use at least one major welfare program. Milton Friedman said that, “You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.” We have both.
Republicans must take the lead on the initiation of a dialogue with the American people on immigration. The status quo is not an option because the demographic changes wrought by immigration will slowly strangle the Republican Party and an amnesty will just hasten the process putting the final nail in the coffin of this country and the GOP. Americans should have an opportunity to decide whether our immigration policies are to serve the long-term interests of all Americans or the short-term interests of corporate and special (often political, religious and ethnic) interest groups. Legal immigration is a controllable variable that can be adjusted in the national interest if we have the political will to do so. And illegal immigration can be stopped and reversed if we as a nation make a resolute commitment to secure our borders and enforce our existing laws.