USA: Immigrants, Making It, and The American Dream

Latin Lista has an entry on this academic conference, about immigration. The gist of the conference appears to be a response to Samuel Huntingtons controversial article. In a nutshell he claims that continued Latino immigration will produce un-assimilable ethnic pockets -with values contrary to the Anglo-Protestant values the country was founded and developed on - and that this will fragment the U.S. As evidence he cited the Southwest USA, and Miami Florida.

In response, these articles by academics - based on solid scholarship - both challenge and/or dispprove Huntington's major points. The findings, consistent with census data and marketing data out there, find that the children of Latino immigrants learn English, advance further along than their parents, and in effect "assimilate" and embrace the American Dream.

Mexican Americans and The American Dream

Cuban Emigres And The American Dream

Mexican Immigrant Political and Economic Incorporation


In the end, this is common sense, but the narrow minded lemmings don't get it in their isolationism. People outside of the US complain endlessly about the "Americanization" of their kids. No one ever thinks about how strong the pull of US mass media and consumer society is to immigrant kids.