Should Immigrants be Encouraged to Assimilate?

A new report by the federal Task Force on New Americans calls for increased and stronger assimilation efforts due to the rapid growth of the immigrant population. Increased population diversity makes Americanization efforts much more difficult.

This month the task force delivered a 67-page report, "Building an Americanization Movement for the 21st Century," with recommendations to President Bush. The report says that it is essential for the U.S. to begin on a renewed "Americanization" movement in order to “preserve social unity.” The report addresses the concerns of immigrant marginalization and the creation of fragmented enclaves, or segregated communities, which would lead to social tension and would undermine the “very fabric of values and principles that unite all Americans." According to an article yesterday in The San Bernadino Sun, the task force believes that immigrants do “generally assimilate in the United States” but they need more help.

Alfonso Aguilar, chief of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Office of Citizenship. "But trends show government can do more to help newcomers learn English, learn about America and promote integration across our nation."

Recommendations include: Enhanced English language education for immigrant adults, including a focus on electronic learning and distance learning. The report also wants the federal government to work more closely “with the private sector and community-based organizations to promote language and civics programs.” Efforts need to be made to incorporate immigrants into American political and civic life. Some Population Facts (gathered from The San Bernadino Sun and negative Population Growth.org): There are 305 million people in the U.S. and we are growing my 3 million people a year. By 2050, the foreign-born population is projected to reach 19 percent. Recent arrivals are coming largely from Latin America and Asia. Immigrants are locating in the “South, West and other places without long-standing immigrant traditions.” Open border advocates disagree with the report and claim that America will “never become Balkanized,” or that Barack Obama’s multi-ethnic background “is an impressive example of how far this country has evolved as a culturally and ethnically diverse society.” Armando Navarro, an ethnic-studies professor at UC Riverside views the demographic transformation as a positive, and believes that Americans are already multicultural in their lifestyle because they “go to an Italian restaurant one week and a Mexican restaurant the next.” Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), is concerned and is calling for cooperation on the issue:

"If we are going to successfully bring this huge cohort of immigrants into the mainstream, it has to be a cooperative effort on both sides. One of the things we've seen for a long time is the assimilation process is hindered by continuing high levels of immigration."

According to the November 2008 report by FAIR, a post election poll conducted by Zogby International found that “an overwhelming majority of the electorate opposes amnesty.” The polls shows that only 32% of Obama voters supported amnesty, and 60% of all voters want strong border and worksite enforcement.

57% of all voters said that amnesty would further harm the interests of American workers and strain public resources.