immigration and language
FEARS:
|
One of the oldest myths about immigration that helps to fuel the moral panic is the idea that immigrants will not learn English, and will therefore not assimilate into American society and thus detract from traditional American culture.
"Now, what do we find in all our large cities? Entire sections containing a population incapable of understanding our institutions, with no comprehension of our national ideals, and for the most part incapable of speaking the English language." --Congressman Grand Hudson on southern and eastern European immigration in 1924 "They can come here, but they should learn to speak our language... I don't speak it very well, but look how far I've come." --South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham in CNN Republican presidential debate on immigration reform, 2015 This fear about immigrants--like many of the concerns that anti-immigration moral entrepreneurs hold to be true--proves to be unfounded. An extensive report published last September by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine found that new immigrants are quick to "Americanize" and integrate into American society, adopting American values and customs--including the language. The report writes:
“across all measurable outcomes, integration increases over time, with immigrants becoming more like the native-born with more time in the country, and with the second and third generations becoming more like other native-born Americans than their parents were.” Even though many immigrant families in America continue to speak their native language at home, the report finds that a majority of them are either learning English or already know it. According to the research, 66% of immigrants who speak a foreign language at home also can speak English 'very well' or 'well,' challenging Republican mandates of the necessity of English qualifications for immigrants as well as the justification behind immigration as a moral panic. |