When my father came from Germany as a 19-year old the very first thing
he did was to enroll in a class taught at a local public school to learn
English. My aunt told me that he became proficient in English in only
six weeks. He wanted to be an American and to do so he had to learn the
language. Of course, he retained his German heritage. However,
assimilation was important to him, as it was to most immigrants.
For years America has drifted away from assimilation, which has become
an unspeakable word among the cultural elite. Instead, we are told that
we must recognize and celebrate the diversity of various groups without
demanding any compromise from them. This has hurt immigrants more than
anyone else because many have become isolated in cultural ghettos
without a proper command of English, the American political and legal
systems or American history and culture. That said, it also has
fractured American society.
For the past several years pro-illegal immigration groups have rallied
at the beginning of May to demand citizenship opportunities for the
estimated twelve million illegal immigrants in the United States and an
end to raids on and deportations of these immigrants. This year was no
different. There were protests in California, Michigan, Florida, Texas,
Illinois and other places. One slight change, however, was the
attendance: this year the protests were markedly smaller than before.
In 2006, the first these immigration rallies were held, the attendance
was around one million people. This year crowds were down to between
300 and 500 per rally.
Many activists were quoted as saying that the drop in attendance was due
to fear of government reprisal and deportation among the illegal
immigrants themselves. This is highly implausible. Since 2006 the
Federal Government has made little progress in enforcing our borders and
deporting illegal immigrants.