In the past four decades, a massive wave of immigration has been transforming the United States, the vast majority of the new arrivals coming from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. As Americans grapple with understanding the newcomers in their midst, they often hark back to the triumphs and tribulations of European immigrants who came in the great influx a century ago. The old-time immigrants are remembered as exulting in their arrival in the promised land, eager to assimilate and become part of a growing and great America. Against this image, present-day arrivals often fail to measure up. A popular fear is that they will have trouble, indeed often resist, fitting in; that their origins in non-Western cultures are poor preparation for American life; and that they are not committed to America or its institutions. In today's multicultural era, many worry that immigrants are not 'Americanizing' the way they did in the good old days-and that even when they naturalize, new forms of dual nationality are weakening the meaning of American citizenship and the integrity of American civic traditions. This article looks beyond the myths and images to discuss the realities of the immigrant experience in both eras. The focus is on naturalization-as well as dual citizenship-and on education for citizenship. The analysis draws on figures and studies for the United States as a whole. I also draw on my larger study of immigration to New York City, which compares immigrants today and in the last great wave at the beginning of the twentieth century.

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attitudinal survey comparative study citizenship United States immigrant population