Looking (In Vain) For Latino Assimilation

Edwin S. Rubenstein:

Second-generation immigrants—U.S.-born individuals with at least one foreign-born parent—are the most rapidly growing segment on the nation’s immigrant stock. In California they account 7 million, or 21 percent, of state population, up from 3.1 million (16 percent) in 1970.

Latinos account for over half of second-generation Californians. If the children of immigrants are assimilating, it should happen in California first.

But it isn’t happening.

On the contrary, a May 2005 Public Policy of California report, "Second-Generation Immigrants in California," reveals a widening gap in the academic, economic, and linguistic achievement of second- and even third- generation Latinos and the overall population.

Second-Generation Immigrants in California