T he assimilation and integration of immigrants and their children into American society is vital to the future success of the United States of America. Learning English and adopting American social values are important components of assimilation and integration into our society, but patriotism and confidence in American institutions are also critical. Despite the importance of this issue, there is relatively little research on how well immigrants and their children patriotically assimilate.
Based on their responses to the General Social Survey, we found that immigrants and their children have levels of patriotism that are about the same as those of nativeborn Americans or that exceed them. Additionally, immigrants and their descendants have more trust in the three branches of American government than do native-born Americans. Immigrants bolster patriotism and national trust in American government institutions.
John Fonte, director of the Center for American Common Culture at the Hudson Institute, defines patriotic assimilation as “when a newcomer essentially adopts American civic values and the American heritage as his or her own. It occurs, for example, when newcomers and their children begin to think of American history as ‘our’ history not ‘their’ history.” Fonte and others are worried that current immigrants and their children are not patriotically assimilating as well as previous generations. Unfortunately, there is little recent empirical research on this question. Many other research papers that focus on American identity do not report answers to questions about patriotism or opinions regarding the United States and its place in the world.
To help fill this gap, Fonte and Althea Nagai of the Hudson Institute analyzed the 2007 Harris Interactive online poll results and found that “native-born citizens are much more patriotically attached to America than immigrant citizens and the native-born are much better informed about American history and government than naturalized citizens. This analysis suggests to us that Americanization or patriotic integration is not working as well as it should today.”
There is also scant empirical research in peer-reviewed academic journals about immigrant patriotism. Jack Citrin, a political science professor from the University of California, Berkeley and several coauthors concluded from the results of multiple surveys that “blacks and non-citizen Hispanics express slightly less patriotism than whites,” and that “after adjusting for differences in age and education native-born Hispanics actually evidenced higher levels of patriotism.”6 Roger Waldinger and Lauren Duquette-Rury analyzed the Latino Immigrant National Election Study and found that patriotism and trust in the US government increase over time for Hispanic immigrants, largely because they compare this country to their home countries. As one interviewee said, “If the Mexican government was good, we wouldn’t be here.”
Methodology and Data
This analysis is based on responses from the nationwide biennial General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. The GSS data allow us to directly measure the opinions of immigrants and native-born Americans.8 We compared responses to questions about patriotism, love of country, and confidence in American government institutions from native-born Americans to immigrants for the years 2006 to 2016. Many of the responses are pooled from the entire decade, while others are available for only the year 2014, based on when the GSS asked specific questions. The second generation are the US-born children of immigrants, the third generation are the native-born grandchildren of immigrants, and the fourth generation includes those who are the great-grandchildren of immigrants and who have even more distant immigrant relatives. The category of “all natives” combined the second, third, and fourth generations into one group. This brief displays them in tables below each figure. We adjusted weights based on the number of adult respondents for all years.
Several of the responses to GSS survey questions had more answers than are displayed in the following figures and tables. To present the findings more clearly, some of the responses are combined into larger response categories that preserve the meaning while sacrificing unnecessary complexity. For example, the responses for Figure 1 and Table 1 were strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree. This brief combined them into the broader categories of agree, neither, and disagree for figures and tables 1, 3, 5, and 6.
Figure 1: America is better than most other countries
Note:Years covered by this survey question: 2014. Source:Authors’ analysis of the General Social Survey data, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
Table 1: America is better than most other countries by generation
Note:Years covered by this survey question: 2014. Source:Authors’ analysis of the General Social Survey data, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
Lastly, we used an ordered logit model to estimate the probability that immigrant responses to the GSS questions are different from the responses of native-born Americans to a statistically significant extent. We regressed each survey question on both an indicator variable equal to one for immigrants and an interaction term for whether an immigrant is a naturalized citizen. For each question below, we indicate whether the immigrant responses are different from those of natives to a statistically significant degree. The output tables are in the appendix and report average marginal effects.
Patriotic Assimilation
Patriotism is difficult to measure. A hypothetical survey question that asked, “How patriotic are you?” would not be reliable because social desirability bias, a common tendency whereby respondents answer survey questions in a way that will be viewed favorably by others rather than honestly, would exaggerate the degree of patriotism among Americans and immigrants. Fortunately, the GSS asks respondents about the United States’ relative position in the world, pride in American history, and opinions about other aspects of American national identity. Responses to these questions should be closely correlated with feelings of true patriotism, love of country, and the adoption of American civic values and heritage.
Figure 1 shows responses to the question, “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Generally speaking, America is a better country than most other countries.” Seventy-one percent of all immigrants agree with this statement compared to 73 percent of native-born Americans. Immigrants who are American citizens are even more likely to agree with the statement that America is better than most other countries than are native-born Americans, 79 percent to 73 percent. Eleven percent of all immigrants disagree with the statement, while only 9 percent each of citizen immigrants and natives disagree. Statistically, we find no evidence to suggest that immigrants are more or less likely to respond to the questions differently from natives (Table A1). Table 1 shows the responses to this question by generation of native-born Americans. Seventy-seven percent of the second generation agree that America is better than most other countries, a percentage greater than the third and fourth generations.
Figure 2 shows responses to the question, “How proud are you of being American?” Unlike other figures in this brief, Figure 2 excludes the responses for all immigrants because a large percentage of them are not American citizens. Seventy-five percent of immigrants who are American citizens are very proud to be American compared to only 69 percent of native-born Americans. The two groups of respondents are just as likely to say that they are not very proud of being American. The responses of citizen immigrants are not different to a statistically significant extent relative to native-born Americans (Table A1). Table 2 shows that 77 percent of the second generation are very proud of being American, meaning that they have more pride in their nationality than any other generation.
Figure 2: Proud of being American
Table 2: Proud of being American by generation
Figure 3 asks respondents to agree or disagree with this statement: “I am often less proud of America than I would like to be.” In contrast to figures 1 and 2, those who agree with the statement here are less patriotic and those who disagree are more patriotic. Thirty-two percent of all immigrants and 33 percent of citizen immigrants agree with the statement compared to 37 percent of native-born Americans. Forty percent of all immigrants disagree with the statement that they are “often less proud of America,” slightly below the 42 percent of native-born Americans. Fifty-three percent of immigrants who are American citizens disagree. The responses of all immigrants and natives are not different to a statistically significant extent. Table 3 shows that the second generation are the least likely to be “less proud of America.” As a twist, they are also the most likely to answer “neither” and the least likely to disagree.
Figure 3: Less proud of America
Table 3: Less proud of America by generation
Figure 4 shows responses to the question, “How proud are you of America in each of the following? Its fair and equal treatment of all groups in society.” All immigrants are proudest of fair and equal treatment, with 23 percent of them saying they are very proud and 48 percent saying they are somewhat proud. Twenty-two percent of citizen immigrants say they are very proud and 42 percent say they are proud. Native-born Americans are the least proud of how America treats groups equally. Immigrant pride in how America treats groups equally is higher than that of native-born Americans.
This is reflected by immigrants being significantly more likely to answer “very proud” and “somewhat proud” than natives (Table A2). Table 4 shows that members of the second generation are more likely to be very proud and less likely to be somewhat proud than respondents in the third and fourth generations. If the percentages in Table 4 were grouped into broader response categories of proud or not proud, then the second, third, and fourth generations would have about the same responses. Immigrant responses here imply that most of them also think that their own group is treated fairly and equally.
Figure 4: Proud that America treats groups equally
Table 4: Proud that America treats groups equally by generation
Figure 5 includes responses to the question, “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements? There are some things about America today that make me feel ashamed of America.” Those who agree with the statement are less likely to be patriotic than those who disagree with it. All immigrants and citizen immigrants are less likely to be ashamed of the United States than are native-born Americans. To a statistically significant degree, immigrants are less likely to be ashamed of some aspects of America and more likely to neither agree nor disagree or disagree (Table A1). Table 5 shows the results by generation. The second generation are the least likely to agree that they are ashamed of some aspects of America relative to every native-born generation and the most likely to not feel ashamed.
Figure 5: Ashamed of some aspects of America
Table 5: Ashamed of some aspects of America by generation
Figure 6 includes responses to the question, “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The world would be a better place if people from other countries were more like the Americans.” This is just a general question that is correlated with how much the respondent likes Americans relative to foreigners. Thirty-nine percent of all immigrants and 40 percent of immigrant citizens agree that the world would be better if people from other countries were more like Americans. All immigrants are as likely as natives to disagree with the statement, while citizen immigrants are slightly more likely to disagree. However, there are no statistically significant differences between the responses of native-born Americans and all immigrants to this question. Table 6 shows that the second generation is more likely to say that “the world would be better if people from other countries were more like Americans” than any other generation of native-born Americans, as well as less likely to say the opposite.
Figure 6: The world would be better if people from other countries were more like Americans
Table 6: The world would be better if people were more like Americans by generation
There are at least three possible explanations for why immigrants are as patriotic or more patriotic than native-born Americans and why their love for this country is passed to the second generation. The first is that immigrants are more patriotic because they chose to become Americans. All things being equal, we should expect those who choose to become Americans to like America more than do those of us who were born here. Their children also understand that choice, which potentially explains their patriotic opinions. The second is that immigrants and their children have memories of how bad other countries are, so they are more appreciative of the United States and thus more patriotic. The third explanation, related to the second, is that disillusionment with the United States takes generations to set in, so only those whose ancestors settled here several generations ago are knowledgeable enough to be less patriotic. Regardless of the possible explanations, immigrants and their children are at least as patriotic as native-born Americans and frequently more so.
Confidence in American Institutions
Immigrants have more confidence in the three branches of our federal government than do native-born Americans. This does not imply that immigrants want a larger, more powerful government. The responses in figures 7, 8, and 9 are to the question: “I am going to name some institutions in this country. As far as the people running these institutions are concerned, would you say you have a great deal of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in them?” Figure 7 shows that immigrants are more confident in Congress, often by significant margins and regardless of citizenship status. Figure 8 shows that immigrants are more confident in the presidency than native-born Americans, with almost no difference between immigrants by citizenship status. Figure 9 shows that immigrants have more confidence in the Supreme Court than native-born Americans, but by smaller margins than in figures 7 or 8.
Figure 7: Confidence in Congress
Figure 8: Confidence in the presidency
Figure 9: Confidence in the US Supreme Court
To a statistically significant extent, all immigrants are more likely to have a great deal of confidence in Congress, the presidency, and the Supreme Court than are native-born Americans (Table A3). Immigrants are also more likely to have only some confidence in Congress and the presidency, to a statistically significant extent, relative to natives. However, immigrants are less likely, to a statistically significant extent, to have confidence in the Supreme Court relative to natives-although the difference is the smallest of any coefficient reported. Immigrants are also less likely to have hardly any confidence in all three branches of government, relative to natives, to a statistically significant extent.
Tables 7, 8, and 9 show that second-generation respondents are more likely to have confidence in the three branches of American government than any other generation of native-born Americans. Confidence in the institutions of the American government fades somewhat in the second generation relative to their immigrant parents, as is only natural considering how these three branches actually operate, but their confidence still surpasses that of other natives.
Table 7: Confidence in Congress by generation
Table 8: Confidence in the presidency by generation
Table 9: Confidence in the US Supreme Court by generation
There are at least two possible explanations for the greater immigrant trust in the three branches of the federal government. The optimistic explanation is that immigrants appreciate how well the US government functions because they remember that their home governments were quite bad.10 The cynical explanation is that immigrants and their children have not had enough experience to realize how poorly these American branches of government function and hence it takes several generations of distance from the governments that their ancestors lived under to lose that perspective.
Conclusion
Many conservatives are worried that immigrants and their children are not as patriotic as native-born Americans. They should rest assured because the responses from immigrants and their children to the above survey questions reveal a degree of patriotism that is nearly identical to that of native-born Americans or, in many cases, exceeds it to a statistically significant extent. Similarly, immigrant and second-generation confidence in our political institutions exceeds that of native-born Americans. Far from being broken, America’s patriotic assimilation system is thriving, and immigrants are boosting overall American confidence in our institutions of government.
Ocho familias están demandando al Gobierno de Estados Unidos por el trauma provocado por la “inexplicable crueldad” de las separaciones familiares derivadas de la política inmigratoria de “tolerancia cero” impuesta por el presidente Donald Trump.
Los abogados de las familias sostienen que dicha política provocó severas secuelas emocionales y alteraciones en el comportamiento de los menores, incluyendo dificultades para dormir y para comer. La demanda se propone obtener una indemnización de tres millones de dólares por daños para cada familia.
El Gobierno estadounidense admitió haber separado a 2.700 menores de sus familias, pero un informe del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos sugiere que podría haber miles más. La Casa de Anunciación, una agrupación sin fines de lucro con sede en la ciudad de El Paso, en el estado de Texas, afirmó recientemente al periódico The Guardian que la institución aún recibe llamados todas las semanas sobre nuevos casos de separaciones familiares.
Lo mas grave de esta política es que "Se desconoce el número total de niños separados por las autoridades migratorias de sus padres o de sus guardianes", Esa es la conclusión a la que llegó el inspector general del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos, quien afirmó el jueves en un informe que los esfuerzos por registrar a esos niños han sido tan irregulares que se desconoce el número exacto de familias de migrantes que fueron separadas, y lo mas grave del asunto es que miles de niños podrían haber sido separados desde el año 2017, mucho antes de implementar la política de tolerancia cero, lo mas preocupante no se sabe cuantos ni donde están.
myE-Verifyes un servicio gratis basado en el internet que tiene algo de interés para todas las personas que trabajan o están en busca de empleo en los Estados Unidos. E-Verify es para los empleadores; myE-Verify es para los trabajadores y para las personas en busca de empleo.
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El Servicio de Ciudadanía e Inmigración de Estados Unidos (USCIS) desarrollómyE-Verifyen respuesta a la solicitud del Congreso de ofrecer servicios a los trabajadores de los Estados Unidos para interactuar con el USCIS y participar en el proceso deE-Verifyun programa del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional administrado por USCIS en conjunto con la Administración del Seguro Social.
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1. Ingrese su información personal y cree un nombre de usuario y una contraseña. 2. Seleccione las preguntas de seguridad que se utilizarán para verificar su identidad si perdiera acceso a su cuenta. 3. Verifique que tiene acceso a una dirección de correo electrónico y a un número de teléfono. 4. Pase una prueba pequeña para verificar su identidad (similar a la prueba que tomó en Self Check).
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En lugar de su nombre de usuario, podrá elegir la dirección de correo electrónico que proporcionó cuando creó su cuenta. Si olvida su contraseña, podrá usar las preguntas de seguridad que creó para ingresar al sistema y restablecer su contraseña.
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U.S. immigration law is very complex, and there is much confusion as to how it works. The Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA), the body of law governing current immigration policy, provides for an annual worldwide limit of 675,000 permanent immigrants, with certain exceptions for close family members. Lawful permanent residency allows a foreign national to work and live lawfully and permanently in the United States. Lawful permanent residents (LPRs) are eligible to apply for nearly all jobs (i.e., jobs not legitimately restricted to U.S. citizens) and can remain in the country even if they are unemployed. Each year the United States also admits noncitizens on a temporary basis. Annually, Congress and the President determine a separate number for refugee admissions.
Immigration to the United States is based upon the following principles: the reunification of families, admitting immigrants with skills that are valuable to the U.S. economy, protecting refugees, and promoting diversity. This fact sheet provides basic information about how the U.S. legal immigration system is designed.
I. Family-Based Immigration
Family unification is an important principle governing immigration policy. The family-based immigration category allows U.S. citizens and LPRs to bring certain family members to the United States. Family-based immigrants are admitted either asimmediate relativesof U.S. citizens or through thefamily preference system.
Prospective immigrants under the immediate relatives’ category must meet standard eligibility criteria, and petitioners must meet certain age and financial requirements. Immediate relatives are:
spouses of U.S. citizens;
unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens (under 21-years-old);
parents of U.S. citizens (petitioner must be at least 21-years-old to petition for a parent).
A limited number of visas are available every year under the family preference system, but prospective immigrants must meet standard eligibility criteria, and petitioners must meet certain age and financial requirements. The preference system includes:
adult children (married and unmarried) and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (petitioner must be at least 21-years-old to petition for a sibling),
spouses and unmarried children (minor and adult) of LPRs.
In order to balance the overall number of immigrants arriving based on family relationships, Congress established a complicated system for calculating the available number of family preference visas for any given year. The number is determined by starting with 480,000 and then subtracting the number of immediate relative visas issued during the previous year and the number of aliens “paroled” into the U.S. during the previous year. Any unused employment preference immigrant numbers from the preceding year are then added to this sum to establish the number of visas that remain for allocation through the preference system. However, by law, the number of family-based visas allocated through the preference system may not be lower than 226,000. In reality, due to large numbers of immediate relatives, the actual number of preference system visas available each year has been 226,000. Consequently, the total number of family-based visas often exceeds 480,000.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, family-based immigrants comprised 64 percent of all new LPRs in the United States.
The family-based immigration system is summarized in Table 1.
In order to be admitted through the family-based immigration system, a U.S. citizen or LPR sponsor must petition for an individual relative, establish the legitimacy of the relationship, meet minimum income requirements, and sign an affidavit of support stating that the sponsor will be financially responsible for the family member(s) upon arrival in the United States.
The spouses and children who accompany or follow the principal immigrants (those who qualify as immediate relatives or in family-preference categories) are referred to as derivative immigrants. The number of visas granted to derivative immigrants is counted under the appropriate category limits. For example, in FY 2013, 65,536 people were admitted as siblings of U.S. citizens; 27,022 were actual siblings of U.S. citizens (the principal immigrants); 14,891 were spouses of principal immigrants; and 23,623 were children of principal immigrants.
II. Employment-Based Immigration
The United States provides various ways for immigrants with valuable skills to come to the country on either a permanent or a temporary basis.
Temporary Visa Classifications
Temporary employment-based visa classifications permit employers to hire and petition for foreign nationals for specific jobs for limited periods. Most temporary workers must work for the employer that petitioned for them and have limited ability to change jobs. There are more than 20 types of visas for temporary nonimmigrant workers. These include L-1 visas for intracompany transfers; various P visas for athletes, entertainers, and skilled performers; R-1 visas for religious workers; various A visas for diplomatic employees; O-1 visas for workers of extraordinary ability; and various H visas for both highly-skilled and lesser-skilled employment. The visa classifications vary in terms of their eligibility requirements, duration, whether they permit workers to bring dependents, and other factors. In most cases, they must leave the United States if their status expires or if their employment is terminated.
Permanent Immigration
The overall numerical limit for permanent employment-based immigrants is 140,000 per year. This number includes the immigrants plus their eligible spouses and minor unmarried children, meaning the actual number of employment-based immigrants is less than 140,000 each year. The 140,000 visas are divided into five preference categories, detailed in Table 2.
In FY 2014, immigrants admitted through the employment preferences made up 15 percent of all new LPRs in the United States.
III. Per-Country Ceilings
In addition to the numerical limits placed upon the various immigration preferences, the INA also places a limit on how many immigrants can come to the United States from any one country. Currently, no group of permanent immigrants (family-based and employment-based) from a single country can exceed seven percent of the total amount of people immigrating to the United States in a single fiscal year. This is not a quota to ensure that certain nationalities make up seven percent of immigrants, but rather a limit that is set to prevent any immigrant group from dominating immigration patterns to the United States.
IV. Refugees and Asylees
Protection of Refugees, Asylees, and other Vulnerable Populations
There are several categories of legal admission available to people who are fleeing persecution or are unable to return to their homeland due to life-threatening or extraordinary conditions.
Refugeesare admitted to the United States based upon an inability to return to their home countries because of a “well-founded fear of persecution” due to their race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin. Refugees apply for admission from outside of the United States, generally from a “transition country” that is outside their home country. The admission of refugees turns on numerous factors, such as the degree of risk they face, membership in a group that is of special concern to the United States (designated yearly by the President of the United States and Congress), and whether or not they have family members in the United States.
Each year the President, in consultation with Congress, determines the numerical ceiling for refugee admissions. The total limit is broken down into limits for each region of the world as well. After September 11, 2001, the number of refugees admitted into the United States fell drastically, but annual admissions have steadily increased as more sophisticated means of conducting security checks have been put into place.
For FY 2016, the President set the worldwide refugee ceiling at 85,000, shown in Table 3 with the regional allocations.
Asylumis available to persons already in the United States who are seeking protection based on the same five protected grounds upon which refugees rely. They may apply at a port of entry at the time they seek admission or within one year of arriving in the United States. There is no limit on the number of individuals who may be granted asylum in a given year nor are there specific categories for determining who may seek asylum. In FY 2014, 23,533 individuals were granted asylum.
Refugees and asylees are eligible to become LPRs one year after admission to the United States as a refugee or one year after receiving asylum.
V. The Diversity Visa Program
The Diversity Visa lottery was created by the Immigration Act of 1990 as a dedicated channel for immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Each year 55,000 visas are allocated randomly to nationals from countries that have sent less than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous 5 years. Of the 55,000, up to 5,000 are made available for use under the NACARA program. This results in a reduction of the actual annual limit to 50,000.
Although originally intended to favor immigration from Ireland (during the first three years of the program at least 40 percent of the visas were exclusively allocated to Irish immigrants), the Diversity Visa program has become one of the only avenues for individuals from certain regions in the world to secure a green card.
To be eligible for a diversity visa, an immigrant must have a high-school education (or its equivalent) or have, within the past five years, a minimum of two years working in a profession requiring at least two years of training or experience. Spouses and minor unmarried children of the principal applicant may also enter as dependents. A computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses selectees for diversity visas. The visas are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the last five years.
People from eligible countries in different continents may register for the lottery. However, because these visas are distributed on a regional basis, the program especially benefits Africans and Eastern Europeans.
VI. Other Forms of Humanitarian Relief
Temporary Protected Status (TPS)is granted to people who are in the United States but cannot return to their home country because of “natural disaster,” “extraordinary temporary conditions,” or “ongoing armed conflict.” TPS is granted to a country for six, 12, or 18 months and can be extended beyond that if unsafe conditions in the country persist. TPS does not necessarily lead to LPR status or confer any other immigration status.
Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)provides protection from deportation for individuals whose home countries are unstable, therefore making return dangerous. Unlike TPS, which is authorized by statute, DED is at the discretion of the executive branch. DED does not necessarily lead to LPR status or confer any other immigration status.
Certain individuals may be allowed to enter the U.S. throughparole, even though they may not meet the definition of a refugee and may not be eligible to immigrate through other channels. Parolees may be admitted temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.
VII. U.S. Citizenship
In order to qualify for U.S. citizenship through naturalization, an individual must have had LPR status (a green card) for at least five years (or three years if he or she obtained the green card through a U.S.-citizen spouse or through the Violence Against Women Act, VAWA). There are other exceptions including, but not limited to, members of the U.S. military who serve in a time of war or declared hostilities. Applicants for U.S. citizenship must be at least 18-years-old, demonstrate continuous residency, demonstrate “good moral character,” pass English and U.S. history and civics exams (with certain exceptions), and pay an application fee, among other requirements.
