Umm, I am German(partly, also Irish and American Indian) and we've been here for 120+ years(that I can trace back confidently). I live near Amish(Mennonite) country and my kid's school has the pure pleasure of playing basketball against em.
They speak English the vast majority of the time, and their communities are religious based not, specifically, ethnically so.
Frankly I am amazed at the inability of some to differentiate between immigration, past and present, vs the manipulation of the system that we are seeing today. THIS is a different phenomenon, driven by the nanny state for the most part, and falling back on past "examples", or trotting out whatever PC label makes one feel better is not dealing with it.
Hmm, EDIT fort an example: The store my wife manages has a Mexican restaurant next to it. Numerous times she's gotten apps from Mexican immigrants(some of which are more than a bit questionable on the face). Interviewing
most of them has proven impossible because they don't know ANY English. In talking to their...liason, for lack of a better word... he has flatly stated "Don't hire 'em". He won't. They are here looking for the handout, with no desire for anything more. For some getting a job is, they think, a way to unemployment until they can get someone knocked up and have a kid that increase welfare pymts. This is from a recent immigrant who works 70 hr weeks, knows the language and speaks only English around his kids. All while trying to become part of the US AND preserve his heritage.
But the problem, is literally everybody seems to see only one type. Either the parasites or the good guys. The fact is we have both and right now, thx to government hand outs that did not exist in the past and thus did not contribute to past immigration problems, real or imagined. To deal with the problem it's necessary to SEE where the problems are, which is not immigration itself(nor have I ever indicated it was). It's what attracts some(an increasing percentage unfortunately) and how they color everyone's perception.
Generalizing, good or bad, is just ignoring reality.
BTW, don't tell me the above actions of some won't work. Sometimes it actually does, but regardless, it's what a segment of our current immigrants WANT to work. The problem remains the same. Adressing the problem is not in and of itself racist or phobic. Generalizing it may be...for both sides.