So, how well is this new emphasis on “social integration” working out? In a recent survey by the Pew Research Hispanic Center, over half of young Hispanics (under age 40) declined to identify themselves as Americans, not even hyphenated Americans. This included not only recent immigrants but second and third generation native-born Hispanics as well.
We haven’t heard much about assimilation of immigrants lately. If that seems odd, there is a reason for the silence.
There is no “assimilation debate” because assimilation as a policy goal of our civic culture has already been abandoned.
The new watchword is “integration.” The integration of immigrants has replaced assimilation in the lexicon of not only the United States government but the private-sector institutions dealing with immigration.
Of course, this multiculturalist subversion of our civic vocabulary can be seen in other areas of public life as well. For example, the left has been advancing a new, much narrower meaning for the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion. Under the imperatives of Obamacare, freedom of religion now means only freedom of worship, and many religious leaders have accepted this constriction. They may wake up when their churches begin receiving their first property tax bills.
Yet, this makeover is not something that was started by the Obama administration. It has been under way for more than a decade, promoted by first multiculturalists in the universities, followed by foundations and immigration attorneys. The process went unnoticed because good citizens and patriots were asleep at the wheel.
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