Assimilation of Racial Groups Immigrants have always taken time to move into the mainstream, both geographically and culturally. And assimilation has always been a two-way process, with each new wave of immigrants contributing something to what it means to be American, from Jewish humour to German beer. The proper measure of assimilation is not whether racial groups have cut their ties to their homeland completely, but whether they have put down roots in the United States. But this proportion is likely to rise. And the recent anti-immigrant campaigns in California and Congress have, paradoxically, inspired the greatest rush to naturalisation in the history of the country.
Home ownership is another powerful symbol of attachment to American life.
Half of all immigrant homes were owner-occupied in 1990. This is a much lower figure than the one for native-born Americans. But the longer immigrants stay in the country, the more likely they are to join the home-owning classes. The figures for intermarriage and language-acquisition are equally heartening from an assimilationist point of view. Almost half the children of Asian immigrants can speak only English.