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   COLLECTIONS>IMMIGRATION POLICY

The Americanization Ideal

   By Barbara Jordan
   Published: September 11, 1995
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   Congress is considering legislation to curb illegal immigration and
   set priorities for legal admissions. Several Presidential candidates
   have made immigration a keystone of their campaigns. Newspapers carry
   immigration-related articles almost daily, in contrast to just a few
   years ago when hardly any appeared.

   This attention is not misplaced. Reform is needed in policies that
   permit the continued entry of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens
   and blur distinctions between what is legal and beneficial and what is
   illegal and harmful. The Commission on Immigration Reform issued a
   report last year on illegal immigration and will release its second
   report, on legal migrants, tomorrow. These two reports outline a
   rational set of principles that will restore credibility to our
   policies while setting priorities for the future.

   Legitimate concern about weaknesses in our immigration policy should
   not, however, obfuscate what remains the essential point: the United
   States has been and should continue to be a nation of immigrants. A
   well-regulated system of legal immigration is in our national
   interest.

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   There have always been those who despised the newcomers. The history
   of American immigration policy is full of racism and ethnic prejudice.
   The Know-Nothings. The Chinese Exclusion Acts. Even before the
   Revolution, as eminent a person as Benjamin Franklin feared that
   Germans coming to Pennsylvania would not become English.

   Of course, German immigrants to Pennsylvania did not become English,
   nor did they make Pennsylvanians into Germans. Instead, they became
   Americans. So did the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans who came, despite
   prejudice. So do the Mexicans, Cubans and Haitians who come today.

   The United States has united immigrants and their descendants around a
   commitment to democratic ideals and constitutional principles. People
   from an extraordinary range of ethnic and religious backgrounds have
   embraced these ideals.

   There is a word for this process: Americanization. That word earned a
   bad reputation when it was stolen by racists and xenophobes in the
   1920's. But it is our word, and we are taking it back. Americanization
   means becoming a part of the polity -- becoming one of us. But that
   does not mean conformity. We are more than a melting pot; we are a
   kaleidoscope, where every turn of history refracts new light on the
   old promise.

   Immigration imposes mutual obligations. Those who choose to come here
   must embrace the common core of American civic culture. We must assist
   them in learning our common language: American English. We must renew
   civic education in the teaching of American history for all Americans.
   We must vigorously enforce the laws against hate crimes and
   discrimination. We must remind ourselves, as we illustrate for
   newcomers, what makes us America.

   Naturalization is a vital step in this process. Interest in
   naturalization has never been greater; applications for citizenship
   exceed in number and proportion any previous period in our history.
   But would-be citizens must wait too long to be processed, as much as
   two years in some cities. The Immigration and Naturalization Service
   must make timely naturalization a strategic goal while maintaining
   rigorous standards.

   Reforming our immigration policy is the best way to revitalize our
   commitment to immigration and to immigrants. It is literally a matter
   of who we are as a nation, and who we become as a people.
   Barbara Jordan is chairman of the United States Commission on
   Immigration Reform, a bipartisan Congressional organization.

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