jamesrage

Mexican Immigrants Do Not Assimilate Quickly in US, Study Finds -- 05/15/2008

Mexican Immigrants Do Not Assimilate Quickly in US, Study Finds

CNSNews.com) - Immigrants to the United States are doing a good job of assimilating, with immigrants from Cuba, Vietnam, and the Philippines leading the way in adapting to an American way of life, according to a new study. But the one group not assimilating well is Mexicans, apparently because so many of them are in the country illegally.

Excluding Mexican immigrants, the assimilation picture of the 21st century looks better than some might think, as the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative think tank in New York City, documented in its report, Measuring Immigrant Assimilation in the United States , released Tuesday.

Study author Jacob Vigdor of Duke University points out that there is no question that today's immigrants are dissimilar from the native-born population when they first arrive.

"If you look at assimilation as a snapshot, and take the immigrant population in its totality, it is less similar to the native-born population than at basically any point in the 20th century," Vigdor told Cybercast News Service .

But the reality is, immigrants in the 21st century are doing a better job of assimilating into American society than did the generation of immigrants that arrived at Ellis Island a century ago, he said.

"If you look at assimilation as a kind of moving picture - as a process that takes time as immigrants get used to living here and climb the economic ladder and so forth -- there is actually some encouraging news," said Vigdor.

The study used census data from 1890 to 2006 to look at how close foreign-born immigrants look to the native-born population.

Immigrants from Cuba, Vietnam, and the Philippines rank near the top, alongside immigrants from Europe, Australia and New Zealand, as the quickest to acquire English, become naturalized, climb the economic ladder, intermarry with native-born Americans and become involved in American civic culture.

In fact, they are making faster progress in the melting pot than other immigrants -- or immigrants from any other periods of history.

"Today's immigrants are making more progress in assimilation because they are assimilating more rapidly," Vigdor said. "They are starting out with a disadvantage, but they are making up for that disadvantage at a rapid pace for the most part."

But Mexican immigrants, he said, are the exception.

"Immigrants from Mexico are not exhibiting the same patterns as immigrants of other nationalities," Vigdor said. "They are assimilating more slowly over time. We see this particularly in terms of their economic and their civic assimilation."

Mexicans -- by far the most numerous nationality of immigrants -- lag significantly behind other groups, Vigdor said, largely because a lack of legal status keeps many Mexican immigrants from advancing economically.

In fact, Mexican immigrants are assimilating more slowly than Italian immigrants did at the turn of the last century, Vigdor said.

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Edify_Always_In_All_Ways

This is actually really interesting. Here's hoping you don't get attacked by various posters crying 'xenophobe'- even if we do disagree on everything.

Remember, DP- America may be a melting pot, but you can't have a melting pot when things don't actually melt.

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The flamethrower- proof that someone was thinking "I want to set that guy on fire, but I'm not close enough."

Thales

I agree. We're not trying to beat the culture out of them - the mix is what makes America great.

But if we're to strive for one cohesive society, people need to understand English. And the flags they fly should be ours, not Mexican.

Doc Howl

I kinda like some of the culture they brought with them.

A melting pot doesn't just melt the incoming people. Just saying.

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Cet Asshat est mechant; on l'attaque, il se defende.

Doc Howl

Of course.

On the other hand, with Hispanics being the fastest-growing demographic, I've ensured that my kids have had Spanish lessons for the last 10 years.

americanwoman

A root in this all is inside the Mexican culture. For instance, for alot of Mexicans if you assimilate you are something of a sellout. If you can't speak perfect Spanish, you are to be mocked. I am sure this will fade away in a generation or two as more and more children are born and raised here.

Also things have to do with being a Mexican as opposed to a Chicano. Chicanos are often looked down upon and will either not care and identify themselves as Americans and or try and prove how "Mexican" they are. Take for instance one of my brothers in law. He is technically a Chicano but he is heavily involved in the Mexican culture and identifies more with being a Mexican than an American. He taught his kids only Spanish and all that. While we all laugh at him and make fun of him, it's people like him that are hurting the assimilation and slowing it down for alot Mexican immigrants who do want to assimilate and become "American". Because there are truly many who do.

Rogue

The main reason that illegal Mexicans don't assimilate is that they don't have to. With 10% of the population of Mexico in the US illegally countless 'Little Mexicos' have sprung up where illegals can live, shop, mingle, even work with other illegals without ever having to speak English and/or otherwise assimilate. Besides, they are illegal. Why would we want them to assimilate. They need to stay in the illegal alien underground until we get around to deporting them.

americanwoman

Actually most people who work in "little Mexicos" are bilingual. And if they are not completetly bilingual they are learning and trying to speak English because, believe it or not, but many non-Spanish speaking people frequent those places so they do have to speak English.

I know that having the "little Mexicos" is not what encourage non-assimilation, if that was the case everyone from "little China" or "little Italy" or whatever wouldn't have assimilated either. It has to do specifically with Mexicans.

obvious Child

Are we talking first generation or second?

Has there been any first generation immigrant ethnicity that integrated well?

As I understand it, it's the second generation that integrates and assimilates well.

americanwoman

I am guessing they are talking about first generation. Since most of the Mexican immigrants are at this time first generation it's hard to notice the assimilation now. I am guessing though many of these people do not know any immigrant families personally or they would notice for themselves how that works.