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Many immigrants — about 85 percent of the foreign-born — speak a language other
5
than English at home. For 62 percent of them, that language is Spanish. But many of those
immigrants speak English proficiently outside the home. Many already knew English when
they arrived, the report found; about 50 percent of the foreign-born say they speak English
“very well” or “well,” while only 10 percent say they do not speak English at all.
By the third generation, most immigrant children speak only English, the report found. 10
In a finding the scholars called surprising, the report says foreign-born adults and
children are healthier in general than Americans. They are less likely to die from cancer or
Redefining America
heart disease, and have fewer chronic illnesses and lower rates of obesity.
On education, the researchers found “strong intergenerational progress,” with the second
generation equaling their peers among native-born Americans.
But educational achievement varied widely among different national groups,
because of a significant population of highly skilled and educated foreigners, mainly from
Asia, who have come in recent years. Almost one-quarter of immigrants have college
degrees.
Those from Mexico and Central America started with “exceptionally low levels of
education,” the report said. While their children “progress a great deal relative to their
parents,” they do not reach the levels of their American peers.
On crime, the report found that over all, immigrant men 18 to 39 were incarcerated at 15
about one-fourth the rate of American men in that group. “Cities and neighborhoods with
greater concentrations of immigrants have much lower rates of crime and violence” than
similar places without immigrants, the report said.
Professor Waters said the alarm raised over immigrants and crime, after the recent
murder of a tourist on a San Francisco pier by an illegal immigrant, had been raised with
every influx of immigrants. “We’ve always been worried that immigrants increase crime, and
it has never been true for the first generation,” she said.
However, there is evidence the crime rate is increasing as immigrants become
assimilated, rising to match the rates of native-born Americans. “If this trend is confirmed, it
may be an unwelcome aspect of integration,” the researchers wrote.
2015

Julia Preston, “Newest Immigrants Assimilating as Fast as Previous Ones, Report Says,” The New York Times, September 21, 2017. Copyright © 2017 by
The New York Times. All rights reserved. Used under license.

questions

1. What is Julia Preston’s central claim? What is the main type of date she uses to
support it?
2. What beliefs about present-day immigrants does the report Preston cites address? In what
ways does the data about immigrants’ command of English provide evidence that challenges
stereotypes?
3. In what other ways does Preston challenge stereotypes in this article? Which of these do you
find most compelling, and why?
4. What concern does Preston raise at the conclusion of the article? To what extent do you think
it undercuts the argument she has constructed thus far?

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Copyright © 2021 by Bedford, Freeman & Worth High School Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample chapter.
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