One assimilates by learning the language and adapting to the culture of the nation they chose to immigrate to.

I fully expect people to retain certain cultural elements of their homeland, such as traditions and food, and even pride in their heritage. But when they cliquishly remain a separate society apart from the larger nation, they present a danger of balkanization to our nation.
Starting around 1990, I started meeting a lot of foreign nationals, mostly from Europe: France, Spain, Germany, England, Poland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary, Czech, Russia, and others from Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Guatamala, Costa Rica, Jamaica and elsewhere. Among the european girls, they leaned english very quickly, and several times I heard a girl start to talk in her native language, and one of her friends would say: "Speak english!" And they explained to me that they knew this was the best way to learn. That if they continued to speak in French or Spanish or whatever, that was time taken away from their learning and assimilating faster.
And that is the problem I'm seeing now: The pressure that was there is not as strong now. And increasingly less as hispanics, in particular, climb from 6% of the population (in the 1980s) to 15% presently, and toward 25% projected by 2050, if not sooner.


I've met many who have been in this country for 5, 7, or even 10 years or more who barely speak a word of english. They work jobs as cleaning people or assemblers, construction workers, or other jobs working for legal immigrants of their same nationality (enablers who hire cheap immigrant labor from their own country), and no doubt American employers who hire them as well.

They work in jobs that don't require english, they get medical care in doctor's offices such as the one I work in, who are forced to hire staff members who speak spanish, portuguese, Haitian creole, and so forth, to accomodate patients who have been here for years and don't know the language. Many are legal, and they still haven't bothered to learn the language. And why should they bother? Thanks to multiculturalism, they are not under pressure to assimilate.

In the day they work jobs that don't require english, and they are accomodated by medical offices, banks, restaurants, nightclubs and other businesses that likewise allow them to go on indefinitely here without learning english.

With many friends over the years, and many of the women I've dated, I've gained a window into how one can live illegally in the U.S.

I used to even accomodate many of the women I dated, speak spanish to them when they couldn't understand english, and even try to help them develop their english ability.
It was funny, because my friend Orlando from Argentina, not me, was the one who expressed disgust to me in 1998 when a Colombian girl I was dating had been here 7 years and still couldn't speak english. I found that ironic, that I, the American, wasn't offended by her lack of english, but he, a spanish-culture immigrant himself, was offended. It was one of the events that awakened me that my attitude toward immigrants was perhaps too liberal. That someone should at least speak functional english within 2 or 3 years of arrival.

I meet immigrants in a very high percentage of both my work and my daily personal business, many of whom I suspect of being here illegally.

The cashiers at my supermarket.
The employees at my bank.
My co-workers.
Our patients.
The lawyers and paralegals I interact with. The insurance claims employees. Roofers, construction workers, pressure cleaners, solicitors, restaurant hostesses and waiters. It's not like I live in some kind of white-only vaccuum, and don't talk to and listen to these people talk about how they come here and what their goals are. One girl I treated, in her late 30s, openly told me she was here illegally, and worked under the table as a maid, and was purchasing a house. But had to purchase it in nher sister's name, because she could not legally own a house here. Many of these people I like. But they're still here illegally. If I thought it would do any good, I'd report them.

The last lady who cut my hair was from Mexico, and from what she told me about illegal immigration, she as much as told me that she's here illegally, without coming out and saying it. She expressed great concern about a crackdown on illegals that would force her to return to Mexico. I listened to her views, as I do many others.

Throughout the 80's and 90's I had a much more sympathy for immigrants, both legal and illegal. But now increasingly take a harder, less sympathetic line.

The numbers are too high, and we are forced to accomodate them now, instead of the reverse. And I've watched the immigrant ratio climb to 50% in many parts of the country, including Dade and Broward counties. Very close to home indeed.