Heritage Foundation Promotes Assimilation

The Heritage Foundation has prepared a Special Report entitled “An Agenda For American Immigration Reform.” In the report, the Heritage Foundation boldly promotes assimilation in a way that is very similar to that embraced by ProEnglish.

In the “Culture and Society” section of the report, Heritage observed: “Over the past few decades…America has drifted away from assimilating immigrants…Previous immigrants assimilated to American life and succeeded, but indoctrinating people into the victimization narrative has not produced successful immigrants….”

The Heritage report noted: “At the 1976 Democratic Convention, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan warned that ‘the great danger America faces [is] that we will cease to be one nation and become instead a collection of interest groups.’ Regrettably, her fears have been partially realized.”

In a report section entitled “Preserve patriotic assimilation” the Heritage Foundation stated: “The United States has always welcomed immigrants who come to this country honestly, with their work ethic and appreciation of freedom, seeking the promises and opportunities of the American Dream. This is because the founding principles of this nation imply that an individual of any ethnic heritage or racial background can become an American.”

Heritage added: “However, those same principles also call for…a deliberate and self-confident policy to assimilate immigrants and educate them about this country’s political principles, history, institutions, and civic culture.”

It hardly needs to be stated that such a policy and education for assimilating immigrants must include learning the English language, and the Heritage Foundation report reiterated this point: “Candidates for citizenship should demonstrate a strong understanding of America’s language (English), history, and civic life.”

The Heritage Foundation report drove home the point about the importance of assimilation as it declared: “Patriotic assimilation is the bond that allows America to be a nation of immigrants. Without it, America either ceases to be a nation with a distinct character, becoming instead a hodgepodge of groups, or it becomes a nation that can no longer welcome immigrants. It cannot be both a unified nation and a place that welcomes immigrants without patriotic assimilation.”