Max Cleland: “within the last decade, many States have experienced a wave of immigration that is rivaling the first and second waves…”

“within the last decade, many States have experienced a wave of immigration that is rivaling the first and second waves of German, Irish, Polish and Scandinavian immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In fact, the Census Bureau is estimating that these recently arrived immigrants and refugees will account for 75 percent of the U.S. population growth over the next 50 years. These changing demographics are impacting not just communities accustomed to large immigrant populations like New York, Los Angeles and Miami, but also non-traditional immigrant communities like Gainesville, Georgia and Fremont County, Idaho. One result of our new wave of immigrants is a significant increase in the number of children with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds enrolling in our schools. The Waterloo, Iowa school system, for example, is being challenged to teach 400 Bosnian refugee children, who came here without knowing our language, culture or customs. Schools in Wausau, Wisconsin are filled with Asian children who want to achieve success in the United States. In Dalton, Georgia, over 51 percent of the student population in the public schools are Hispanic children eager to participate in their new schools and communities. In Turner, Maine, the school-aged children of hundreds of recently arrived Latino immigrant families are pouring into this rural town's schools.”