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Overview

Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is granted to a foreign-born individual. During FY 2006, 730,642 immigrants were naturalized. Citizenship requirements include: continuous residence, English proficiency, knowledge of U.S. government, and good moral character. These requirements are designed to help immigrants assimilate, or develop emotional bonds with the U.S.

The level and makeup of today's immigration flow complicates efforts at assimilation. During the 1990s, the United States admitted the largest number of immigrants in its history and there are no signs that immigration will decrease on its own. We now have a resident foreign-born population of nearly 40 million, almost three times the level at the height of the last great wave of immigration in 1910. Immigrants are also more concentrated than they were in the past. Mexico accounts for 31.3 percent of all immigration, with 11.7 million immigrants living in United States, more than the number of immigrants from any other region of the world. Immigrants from Latin America over all account for the majority of immigrants, with 54.6 percent of the foreign-born coming from these areas. These newcomers are almost exclusively Spanish speaking, which creates a critical mass that hinders English learning. And finally, ongoing mass immigration is prohibiting the economic assimilation of immigrants, with immigrant wages falling behind those of natives and immigrant poverty steadily growing.

Aside from the aforementioned obstacles hindering assimilation, it is an open question whether our society even has the self-confidence and resolve needed to sustain an Americanization campaign. The combination of multiculturalism and advanced communications and transportation technology makes this difficult. Though most immigrants will undergo a superficial assimilation however broken our immigration policy is, there is more to Americanization than learning English and getting a job. The development of a visceral, emotional attachment to America and its history, or "patriotic assimilation," is increasingly unlikely when the schools and the culture at large are skeptical, even hostile, to patriotism and when technology enables immigrants to maintain strong psychological and physical ties to their countries of origin.

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