They reached some incorrect conclusions, that become obvious by looking at the American example, and focusing not on the majority, but on the minority. Because the minority represents change to the status quo, and the majority just react to that change.
To start with, in the US, historically there were great waves of immigrants, with most of each group coming from the same place. The exception to this rule are the Mexicans, who continually immigrated to the US over the course of a century.
In any event, with the discreet waves of immigrants, at first they usually ghettoized, forming tight knit communities self-segregated against the majority. Their first generation were usually inoffensive and industrious, still deeply connected to the old country.
But their children, the second generation, had problems. It was neither old country nor yet integrated, and were prone to form criminal gangs and make trouble. Finally the third generation were mostly integrated, left the ghetto and joined the general population.
Importantly, those that stayed in the ghetto entered a long period of decline, because there was no “new blood” for the old ways, yet they couldn’t embrace the success of the majority. Eventually their ghetto gentrified and died out.
However, Mexican immigrants demonstrated something more to the point about the importance of immigration. They present three models.
The first is the California model, where the Mexican ghetto is extensive, so large and so often refreshed that Mexicans can live there and never speak English or interact with non-Mexicans. As such, they are somewhat intolerant of non-Mexicans, mostly blacks.
The second is the Arizona model, where there are no old ghetto communities, since ethnic communities tend to move over time. This forces Mexicans to interact with whites (very few blacks in AZ). So integration is accelerated, as is acceptance of Mexican-Americans.
The third is the Texas model, where integration is mutual, the Texans adopting many Mexican customs and traditions and blending them with their own. The peculiar “Tex-Mex”.
Great post. In just a few sentences you enabled me to look at this phenomenon from some angles I’d never seen before.
There is a fourth model: If we must have immigration (and there is nothing that says we need immigration, especially mass immigration) we choose people that are already as most like us as possible instead of as unlike us as possible.