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The need to integrate new immigrants

Posted June 6, 2009 by Patrick Young, Esq.

President Obama took a major step recently when he included in his budget $10 million for immigrant integration efforts. The Center for American Progress is calling on Obama to go further and establish an office on the integration of new immigrants into American society. The Center points out that the national discussion on immigration focuses on who and how many immigrants should be let in, as well as what should be done with the undocumented “but it rarely mentions the integration of those who are here and how to move them from newcomer to new American. In July of 2008 Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) tried to take up integration by introducing a bill in the 110th Congress that would have provided newcomers with tools to integrate into America’s social and economic fabric through English language education, civics instruction, incentives for businesses that invest in the education of their non-English speaking employees, and federal support for state and local plans to integrate new immigrants.”
Particularly because much of current immigration is to areas where immigration does not have a long history like suburbs and states like North Carolina, a Federal program to provide guidance and resources to state and local communities could greatly lessen tensions and increase the successful integration of immigrants.

Tags : immigrant integration, obama

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