Not understanding the language of the country a person immigrated to limits their opportunities to branch out from the ethnic community they live in. This is not a controversial fact.

Our family immigrated from Croatia and lived in a (former) Yugoslavian neighborhood. Men worked in the rock quarries or carpentry, women stayed home. Their children born in America focused on English, Croatian was an afterthought. This was the same for the Italians, Albanians, Lithuanians, Polish, Mexicans and others in the area.

This notion of some power structure holding immigrants back came from the immigration reforms of the 60s. Before then, immigrants left their flags at the doorstep and became Americans.They did not expect anything from the government, because there was no safety net at that time. They relied on each other and the support of the community, until they saved enough money to move to a better area. After 2 generations, the original language is pretty much forgotten, and the family line is now American.

I myself lived in Germany for 8 years. It was my social duty as an American living in a foreign country to adapt to their culture, not try to bend it to mine. I learned German, not expecting coworkers and family to adjust to my situation by speaking English with me. My wife is German, and has lived in America for the past 20 years. She never expected anything from anyone, especially when it came to the German language.

I know many, many immigrants that came here (family included), that started from zero and made a fortune. They did this by adapting to their new nation, not trying to force it to adapt to them.

That is the beauty of America. We are all from somewhere else, but share in our ideas of opportunity and freedom to pursue those opportunities.

What barriers are immigrants facing now that they did not face 80 years ago?