U.S. Undergoing Largest Wave Of Immigration In History
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Official: U.S. Undergoing Largest Wave Of Immigration In History
By Steve Caraway
The Morning News
SPRINGDALE - The United States is going through the largest wave of immigration in its history.
So said Alfonso Aguilar, chief of the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services' Office of Citizenship, in his keynote speech at Hispanic Woman's Organization of Arkansas' annual conference Friday. He estimates 14 percent of the residents of the United States will be foreign-born in 2025 and 19 percent by 2050.
"The immigrants aren't settling in the usual spots - New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami," Aguilar said. "They are spreading across the country. Arkansas is one of the top of the new gateway states."
The Office of Citizenship aims to educate immigrants on the benefits of naturalization, with the intention of assimilating new citizens into the country. The target audience for Aguilar includes an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants now living in the country.
"These people are living on the margins," Aguilar said. "They are not integrated into the community."
Aguilar called the existing immigration system broken and listed President George W. Bush's points for reform - border security; enforcing the law domestically; a guest worker program; a revised naturalization program; and encouragement of assimilation.
"We need a new Americanization movement in the 21st Century," Aguilar said.
An Americanization movement in the early 20th Century immigration wave helped new arrivals feel like Americans, Aguilar said. Those immigrants were mainly European, while the new wave is not, Aguilar said.
"It should be political values that unite us, not cultural values," Aguilar said. "This country's residents, both citizens and immigrants, need to learn what the U.S. political system means. We want people to develop a sense of patriotism."
Three new citizens were introduced at the conference. Gloria Calvera, Cecilia Smith and Felix Lopez said how proud they were to be U.S. citizens.
"I have lived in the United States for 17 years," Lopez said. "Citizenship is my way to live a better life."
Near the conclusion of his address Aguilar warned, "If immigrants don't assimilate now, we will have problems 20 or 30 years down the road."
Integrated immigrants is a two-way street, said Margarita Solorzano, executive director of the Hispanic Women's Organization.
"You have to create a sense of belonging to a community," Solorzano said. "If new immigrants are welcomed, it will create the desire to interact with others. If they are not welcomed, it can create a feeling of isolation which is not good for either group."
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