Urban:
I’m from back East, and am well aware of the Polish neighborhoods in Chicago, and the Italians in NYC, but neither group represents much more than a tiny drop in the bucket over the past 3 decades when contrasted to the wave of illegal Mexican immigration, either in scale or influence. Not even close.
Here in my area of LA, we have a little Russian/Ukrainian enclave that is far, far from being on the level, and I have little doubt that they are trafficking in fake passports, papers, and smuggling of all varieties. But taken together, all the Eastern Europeans, Armenians, and Asians in LA aren’t more than a trickle beside the river of illegal Mexican immigration; they do not have the numbers, the proximity, or the power that the Hispanic lobby does.
Your observation of the signs in many languages at US Steel illustrates my point: I support a wide-ranging immigration policy that accepts immigrants from across the world; I have no problem with signs in many languages, or with whole neighborhoods of different tribes and ethnic groups. My concern is that one bullying and selfish tribe will lay claim to the whole buffet and keep everyone else from coming to the table.
