Suarez-Orozco’s article makes an important distinction between the old and new waves of immigration, ande challenges many of the ideas about immigration and assimilation that he claims are no longer relevant, such as the “clean break” and homogeneity assumptions. Ellick’s article made me think about the ways in which immigrants retain their ethnic identities against an onslaught of American culture, and Suarez-Orozco’s idea that the constant “flow,” which characterizes much of the new immigration (as opposed to the waves that characterize the old), “replentishes” what is lost in assimilation seems fitting. I liked the way he juxtaposed the mythical narratives of immigration with the reality of immigrants redefining what it means to be an American, as well as the way he clearly addressed the utopian and dystopian immigrant realities that emerge today.
Simon Plutser-Sarno
