In this time of deep political thought, economic debate and social change one must take time to consider one’s place in this world.  It’s simply unavoidable.  I can’t tell you how many times over this past year I may have turned on the news or some talk show and been exposed to such issues as legalizing drugs, abortion vs right to life, stem cell research, cloning, naturalized citizenship, guest workers, eminent domain abuse, property tax reform, entitlement vs negotiated benefits and the list goes on.  Whew!  Honestly, I sometimes find myself getting confused as to where I do stand and what’s truly important.  Lately, I’ve become increasingly distressed over our country’s understanding of immigration and treatment of immigrants both legal and illegal.

It’s not about coming to America.  It’s about becoming an American!

So I decided to do some research on my own and I found a few trends worth noting:  65% of households headed by an illegal immigant have no health insurance; 40% of immigrants speak little or no English even after living here for five years or more; 43% of all immigrants are living at or near the current poverty rate and 34% are actually on some form of social welfare.  And don’t even get me started on the crime statistics for immigrants as these stats here are scarey enough as is.  So what’s the answer?  Is it amnesty, deportation, closed borders, guest-worker status?  Or is it something even more basic such as assimilation?

“Yes, that’s it!” you may be thinking “they need to assimilate!”  And there you are, you’ve walked right into my trap.  Because my next question to you is: How does one assimilate?  Isn’t it done by emmulating others? And to ‘emmulate’ doesn’t one need to be shown what’s acceptable?  Do we demonstrate our norms and values to others?  I’ve found that often we don’t.

After a decade or so advising people on money matters, i’ve found a few other trends to be true also and they are: 1) profit is created through production and production is created by people; coincidentally the U.S. would have a negative population growth of nearly 2% if it were not for illegal immigration and we’re not getting any younger 2) never talking about money promulgates financial ignorance; look around you, chances are your job and your house are not so dissimilar to your neighbor’s.  (especially if you live in a cookie-cutter style home) So what’s the big secret? 3) a healthy joint bank account makes for a happy marriage.  Nuff said.   So what’s it all mean?

Immigrants come to the land of milk and honey only to be told never to talk about money or politics.  Illegal immigration aside, the fact is, we need immigrants and we need to do a much better job helping them to assimilate, to learn how to respect our laws and how to become a productive force in our economy.  We need to start the conversation to show them how to make it in America and we need to do so by being better Americans and paying better attention to money and politcis ourselves.  So here’s a few ideas for what you can do to make a difference:

1. local governments can revise the visa program to attract immigrants who are more skilled, better educated, entreprenuerial or who are in critical fields; allow bi-lingual education for immigrants only during a transitional phase into the mainstream; and establish citizenship curricula with an emphasis on the history and republican values of America as a representative democracy.
2. institutions such as churches, unions, fraternal societies and other civic or professional groups can actively canvass for new members amongst recent immigrants.
3. businesses could offer incentives for employees to sponsor or tutor immigrants in english; provide classes for immigrants in financial literacy and behavior on the job; sponsor swearing-in ceremonies that are memorable and that may include distinctive venues with speakers who discuss the value and obligations of good citizenship.
4. individually, we could volunteer to teach English to immigrants; mentor to an immigrant or help them through the citizenship process; find opportunities to bring immigrant families into the greater community by inviting them to attend civic functions like PTA meetings, chamber events and holiday functions.

In short, we just need to start a conversation. Start talking.

Personally, I host public Towne Hall Meetings each year in May & June to discuss property tax reform and homestead exemptions for seniors and I give monthly seminars and workshops to help individuals and couples on retirement planning, insurance benefits, mortgages and estate planning.  It may be of small relative measure but it’s my little way of spreading democracy and capitalism.  Let’s all find some new way this year to improve our communities by working to assimilate those who need help.  Share to our new immigrant neighbors what being an American is all about and we will all prosper together.

~Patrick Bonnett, Encore Financial Services, Inc.

Visit www.encorefinancialservices.com for a list of upcoming seminars and workshops or to request a workshop to be held for your employees.

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