Forging a Common Culture: Integrating California's Illegal Immigrant Population

Abstract

Victor Davis Hanson's book examines the effects of changes in California's immigration policy over the past thirty years. Hanson asserts that the dismal education and income statistics for illegal immigrants currently residing in California are the result of a move from an assimilation model of integrating immigrants to a push for multiculturalism. Hanson presents several policy solutions to prevent the eventual development of what he calls "Mexifornia," a hyrbrid civilization that is neither purely Mexico nor purely California, yet these entail either a return to the complete assimilation of immigrants or draconian cutbacks to the admission of non-citizens. This Book Review proposes a fifth option-the "state action" option-which involves the California government, through the passage of legislation, supporting the integration of its current undocumented immigrant population while ensuring that its members attain certain basic levels of citizenship.