{"id":13721,"date":"2026-08-06T07:14:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T04:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/?p=13721"},"modified":"2026-08-06T07:14:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T04:14:43","slug":"america-can-assimilate-immigrants-again-like-it-once-did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/america-can-assimilate-immigrants-again-like-it-once-did\/","title":{"rendered":"America Can Assimilate Immigrants Again Like It Once Did"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The heated national debate over immigration enforcement and deportations has overshadowed a crucial reality: three-quarters of America&#8217;s 50 million immigrants reside in the country legally, presenting both an opportunity and a challenge for conservative policymakers seeking to strengthen national cohesion.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the Trump administration has prioritised the arrest and deportation of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States\u2014some of whom have committed criminal acts\u2014this focus has obscured the presence of more than 12 million noncitizen green card holders authorised to remain indefinitely, according to <strong>Howard Husock<\/strong> writing in <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The enforcement-first approach has generated protests, labour shortages, and political headwinds, with six in ten independent voters surveyed by the Associated Press believing the administration has overreached.<\/p>\n<p>Yet a constructive conservative immigration policy must address the legal immigrant population, Husock argues. The fact that these residents hold legal status does not eliminate the cultural friction that drives concern among native-born Americans. Spanish has effectively become a second lingua franca in many communities, creating everyday tensions that cannot be dismissed or ignored.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-13721 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-medium'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2285454063-1-300x200.webp\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-13717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2285454063-1-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2285454063-1-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2285454063-1.webp 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-13717'>\n\t\t\t\tPhoto: washingtonexaminer.com\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Committee-of-Five-1-300x225.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-13718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Committee-of-Five-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Committee-of-Five-1.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-13718'>\n\t\t\t\tPhoto: washingtonexaminer.com\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<h2>Historical precedent for successful assimilation<\/h2>\n<p>The current foreign-born population stands at roughly 14.8 per cent of the total U.S. population\u2014precisely the same figure recorded in 1890, when waves of Eastern and Southern European immigrants were arriving at Ellis Island. America has faced this challenge before and met it successfully.<\/p>\n<p>In 1892, a magazine called Youth&#8217;s Companion published what would become the Pledge of Allegiance, credited to <strong>Francis Bellamy<\/strong>. He subsequently campaigned for its daily recitation by students\u2014in English, naturally. The pledge formed part of a broader cultural effort to expose immigrants to American values and unapologetically assimilate or Americanise them.<\/p>\n<p>This assimilation drive was led not by government but by civil society, particularly through more than 400 settlement houses\u2014community centres, in modern parlance\u2014many located in immigrant neighbourhoods. The most renowned was Chicago&#8217;s Hull House, founded by <strong>Jane Addams<\/strong>, a social gospel progressive who nonetheless offered English and civics classes and encouraged immigrants to pursue citizenship. Similar programmes operated at New York&#8217;s Henry Street settlement, Pittsburgh&#8217;s Kingsley House, and Boston&#8217;s Dennison House.<\/p>\n<h2>Rediscovering E pluribus unum<\/h2>\n<p>The goal and even the terminology of Americanisation have fallen into disrepute in recent decades. Sociologist <strong>Nathan Glazer<\/strong>, who co-authored &#8220;Beyond the Melting Pot&#8221; in 1970 arguing that ethnic groups could maintain distinct identities whilst subscribing to an e pluribus unum ethic, later reversed course in &#8220;We are All Multiculturalists Now,&#8221; acquiescing to the view that maintaining ethnic and racial separateness was both inevitable and desirable.<\/p>\n<p>It is time for conservatives to rediscover and promote the e pluribus unum version of inclusion through concrete policy measures, Husock contends.<\/p>\n<h3>Promoting naturalisation and citizenship<\/h3>\n<p>Policies should begin with promoting naturalisation for legal immigrant residents. As <strong>Richard Samuelson<\/strong> has observed, the day someone becomes an American citizen, he becomes an American in the essential sense of the term.<\/p>\n<p>Yet even as immigration has increased, naturalisation has declined. It peaked at 1.046 million in 2008 but fell to 878,000 in 2023, the most recently reported year.<\/p>\n<p>The $725 cost to take the citizenship test\u2014offered only in English and requiring knowledge of 100 possible civics questions about the Constitution\u2014may discourage applicants unnecessarily.<\/p>\n<h3>English proficiency reduces friction<\/h3>\n<p>Encouraging immigrants to learn English both diminishes cultural friction and enhances their economic opportunity. Yet waiting lists for adult English as a Second Language classes are often lengthy\u2014one Brooklyn class with 90 students reportedly turned away 400 more\u2014whilst federal funding for community college and similar programmes remains modest at $725 million in fiscal 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Such efforts matter because, as <strong>Peter Skerry<\/strong> has noted in response to Samuelson&#8217;s case for citizenship, America is not merely a set of political principles\u2014liberty, equality, individualism\u2014but also a way of life, a culture that must be transmitted and embraced.<\/p>\n<p>The conservative approach to immigration must look beyond enforcement alone and embrace the proven historical model of deliberate, unapologetic assimilation that transformed millions of legal immigrants into full-fledged Americans.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\"><em>With information from <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Washington Examiner<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The article argues that while deportation efforts dominate headlines, conservatives should focus on assimilating the 12 million legal noncitizen green card holders through cultural integration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":13720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[5058,11021,11022,1331,1326,209,7718],"nfg_topic":[135],"class_list":["post-13721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-deportations","tag-green-card-holders","tag-howard-husock","tag-immigration-policy","tag-trump-administration","tag-united-states","tag-washington-examiner","nfg_topic-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13729,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13721\/revisions\/13729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13721"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=13721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}