The Integration of Immigrants into U.S. Society

In the debates over immigration reform, border enforcement, the local efforts to regulate immigration, and like subjects, an oft-ignored practical issue is how to integrate immigrants living in this country into U.S. society.   But whatever the nation does in terms of immigration regulation will still leave us with issues of how to fully integrate the immigrants in this country, and who continue to come to this country, into American social life.

There have been many recommendations on how to promote immigrant integration, including by The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform chaired by the late Barbara Jordan in the early 1990s.  The promotion of naturalization and increased availability of English-as-a-Second Language classes, which in many parts of the country are oversubscribed, are two rather obvious possibilities.  A Washington Post story discusses some of the current issues on immigrant integration.

Throughout history, claims have been made that the dominant immigrant group of the day — Germans, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, southern and eastern Europeans, Mexicans, etc. — have “failed to assimilate.”  Samuel Huntington in his book Who Are We? makes a similar claim against Mexican immigrants.  Assimilation is occurring as English language acquistion is as high among this group of immigrants as among past generations, who now are thought of as fully assimilated.  But if assimilation is truly our concern, we as a nation should work to establish policies and programs that facilitate the integration of immigrants into U.S. social life, not endeavor to engage in the futile task of closing the borders.

KJ