“I think there’s currently one opening so they’d better get going.”

I think your supposed to throw a sharp stick in the middle of them before saying that.

Spanish is also good just for having more options for leaving the US. There are some countries in central and south America that are pretty open to Americans moving to their countries.

I’d also stock a lot of food and water. If things go bad the distribution systems go first. Then everyone figures out it is a weapon to use against the other side and deliveries are blocked on purpose.

Maybe it’s just where I live, but I’d say the majority of the ethnic groups I mentioned are solid Democrat, long after their ancestors immigrated.

I’ve also read that the children of Cuban immigrants are much more liberal than their parents. I can only imagine how their parents must feel about that.

Is or are, a big difference in iglesia. Its a matter of singular or plural. We anglophones are subtle. Our dictionary is bigger than your dictionary

It seemed to make a lot of good sense to me. The first generation off the boat would tend not to have the deeper family and other connections established so more likely to be open to help from governmental sources. Later generations become integrated, more confident, and less open to left leaning politics.

Something similar happens in connection to women – when they are in established marriages tend to vote more center right. Women left to fend for themselves outside of marriages are much more open to and need help from government sources.

I’m remembering Barone accurately (I hope) but I think he’s not at all implying that all Irish Americans, Italian Americans, etc vote conservatively. It’s just there’s a tendency to move more to the right vs that initial generation and it’s something noticeable in the voting records. Anyway, I wouldn’t dismiss his observation so lightly.

There’s also the counterforce at work across all ethnic groups of the government handing out free stuff to buy political support. Free stuff includes of course money, but also preferential treatment for jobs (affirmative action quotas) especially in government jobs, positions in schools, loans, citizenship, and welfare payments. One effect of this is to break down the family interdependency which in turn forces individuals to look more to the government.

He noted that all ethnic groups immigrating here tend to vote to the left of center in the first generation and then gradually move to the center and right.

That is utter nonsense. Italians, Irish, and Jews have been reliable Democrat voters for generations, and I see no signs of that changing anytime soon.

The above plus the need to deny Democrats a subservient voting block and not reward illegal behavior would point towards delaying that pathway to citizenship in any new legislation for as long as possible. Ideally, anyone who came here illegally would only get some legal status without full citizenship and the right to vote, but as a backup delaying citizenship for 10, 15 or even 20 years would work too.

That would effectively skip that first leaning left generation as a voting force. Intermarriage rates between Latinos and others are high and it just won’t be issue in 15 or 20 years.

Also key is getting rid of automatic family chain migration in any new legislation. As well intended as the idea may be I’ve seen examples in CA of one marriage to a foreigner triggering upwards of 20-30 new immigrants – close family members.

If this new bill does not get rid of chain migration then we are not talking about amnesty for 11 or 12 million illegals here, but a great many more. What will happen is that the many who don’t qualify for the amnesty will happen to be related to one close family member who does. It just takes one and so the 11 million could easily trigger a very legal and very large wave of much greater numbers.

The Democrats not particularly appreciating the remaining cultural anchors we have and placing more value on the votes they hope to get over here, will try to craft the new rules to allow just such a wave. If not done correctly, the 11 million could easily turn into 30 or more million new citizens in our lifetimes who will vote more to shape our country to become like Mexico or other points to the South than anything like present day America. It may not be PC to say so but I prefer that not happen.

Another couple of points. One is that everyone is so focused on Latinos that they’re forgetting that the future immigration problems may not involve new immigration from points South so much but from the East – in particular China and India and SE Asia, plus Africa and the MidEast. Mexico despite some bad press has been developing/growing very well and with the strengthening of the US energy position etc (US companies are more inclined to look favorably on Mexico as a manufacturing base instead of China), and Mexico’s improvements the truth is an increasing number of Mexicans will likely decline to come up here. However, China and India etc are entering the sweet spot of development where large numbers are becoming comfortable enough to appreciate the boost they could get if they come here. That’s good for us in diverse and proportionate numbers, but if the new bill’s rules don’t include (not PC) caps and ceilings we could see some very large numbers coming our way. Enough to see the newly created Latino-Americans get uncomfortable and demanding barriers.

Final point. It is essential that as much discretion regarding implementation be kept from the Executive Branch. Decision points probably should be voted on by Congress and not left to the President. Much of any bill will probably have its greatest impact long after our very competent if misguided President has retired to whatever bored lifestyle he can find. Maybe Clinton could give him some pointers. I’ve heard/read that he’s not been bored as he been pursuing what he likes to do more than anything else and enjoying himself immensely.