Welcome to the USA
Another study on immigration reported on by The Washington Post, this one from The Mercatus Center. It focuses on indicators that Latino immigrants are already assimilating much more than the current debate might lead us to believe. On language issues, the study says that, "Only about 2.5 percent of American residents speak Spanish but not English" and that "The United States is not becoming a bilingual nation." It also reports that Latinos marry more and stay married longer than people born in the USA. In addition, it offers information that the children of immigrants do well at work, contributing, pulling their weight in our economy at least as much as immigrants of previous generations.
So these reactionary convulsions by immigration opponents who shriek that immigrants don't -- and don't want to -- assimilate and are plotting some sort of Tower of Babel effect to tear apart the oh-so-unified fabric of the United States of America seem to have no footing in reality. What a shame. Bring on the next excuse.
The only faltering in the article that I discerned came in citing the study's claim that the popularity of English-language but Latino-oriented publications proves the linguistic assimilation of Latin American immigrants: "Just as few Jewish-interest magazines are published in Yiddish, in a generation most Latino-interest publications will probably be in English." This logic seems faulty. While relatively few people spoke Yiddish at any time -- but particularly since the Holocaust wiped out the vast majority of Yiddish speakers -- many millions of people in Latin America will continue to speak Spanish and communicate with Latino immigrants in this country. Regardless, the rise in circulation of Latino-oriented English-language publications certainly does reflect a high level of English use among Latinos. "Latino immigrants, like generations of immigrants before, are entering the mainstream of life in the United States."
And just so there's no mistake that The Mercatus Center is some sort of fifth-column organization, take a look at who one of its main figures is -- Wendy Gramm, wife of former Senator Phil Gramm, former free-market regulator and former Enron board member. It's a conservative organization, according to USNews.
So these reactionary convulsions by immigration opponents who shriek that immigrants don't -- and don't want to -- assimilate and are plotting some sort of Tower of Babel effect to tear apart the oh-so-unified fabric of the United States of America seem to have no footing in reality. What a shame. Bring on the next excuse.
The only faltering in the article that I discerned came in citing the study's claim that the popularity of English-language but Latino-oriented publications proves the linguistic assimilation of Latin American immigrants: "Just as few Jewish-interest magazines are published in Yiddish, in a generation most Latino-interest publications will probably be in English." This logic seems faulty. While relatively few people spoke Yiddish at any time -- but particularly since the Holocaust wiped out the vast majority of Yiddish speakers -- many millions of people in Latin America will continue to speak Spanish and communicate with Latino immigrants in this country. Regardless, the rise in circulation of Latino-oriented English-language publications certainly does reflect a high level of English use among Latinos. "Latino immigrants, like generations of immigrants before, are entering the mainstream of life in the United States."
And just so there's no mistake that The Mercatus Center is some sort of fifth-column organization, take a look at who one of its main figures is -- Wendy Gramm, wife of former Senator Phil Gramm, former free-market regulator and former Enron board member. It's a conservative organization, according to USNews.
posted by Jeremy Goren at 12:20 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home