When Do They Find the Time to Destroy America?

Two great posts at the Cato Institute's wonkblog, Cato Unbound. First, Stephen J. Trejo weighs in on Mexicans' ability to assimilate.

What do we know about the socioeconomic achievement of the children,
grandchildren, and more distant descendants of Mexican immigrants? In
light of the reasons for pessimism listed above, U.S.-born Mexican
Americans have done surprisingly well, though certainly areas of
serious concern remain. Like Europeans in the past, Mexicans enjoy
ample intergenerational progress between first-generation immigrants
and their second-generation children. Relative to their parents, the
U.S.-born second generation experiences dramatic increases in English
proficiency, educational attainment, and earnings. From this
generational perspective, the lightning-rod issue of language–in terms
of both English acquisition and Spanish preservation–loses all its
spark. By the time they are teens, second-generation Mexican Americans
overwhelming prefer to speak English rather than Spanish, and by the
third generation most Mexican Americans no longer speak Spanish at all.

And Doug Massey presents the findings of the Mexican Migration Project, coming up with analysis that—surprise!—confounds the neo-Brimelowean hype. (It confounds me a little, too.)

Mexican immigration is not a tidal wave. The rate of undocumented
migration has not increased in over two decades. Neither is Mexico a
demographic time bomb; its fertility rate is only slightly above
replacement. Although a variety of trans-border population movements
have increased, this is to be expected in a North American economy that
is increasingly integrated under the terms of a mutually-ratified trade
agreement. Undocumented migration stems from the unwillingness of the
United States to include labor within the broader framework governing
trade and investment. Rates of migration between Mexico and the United
States are entirely normal for two countries so closely integrated
economically.