Hi, tent. Great to see you.
Mr R - you mean that in the midwest, immigrants don’t assimilate like they do everywhere else? Or that midwestern mexicans don’t?
I worked with some mexicans in SW Florida. Some were first generation and had no intention of staying. They were pretty assimilated. Except sometimes in language. This didn’t trouble me, mainly because, well, I couldn’t figure out why it should.
Yesterday, I walked into the office I work in and two colleagues were talking to each other in their native language, which is not english. One is a new hire, but the other I know quite well. She’s about as american as you get, except that being an immigrant, she has worked much harder than most americans in her life. Her husband has worked in a factory all his life, currently for less than 15.00 per hour. She’s a conservative, really doesn’t like people who are on the dole. We deal with a lot of people who are on the dole where I work.
But overall, she’s as american as you get. So when I walk in and hear her speak in a language other than english, it doesn’t really bother me. Not that i share all her political values - I just don’t see language as a reflection of the attributes that make us american. And I see multilingual countries that seem somehow to struggle on. You know, like Canada.
Yes, they came here legally - i think. There are a lot of people where i live who have overstayed their visas.