Immigration has temporarily faded as a hot-button issue, for the moment overshadowed by health care reform (not to mention foreign affairs). Expect it to return to attention, however–not least because of the scale of our current immigrant population.

There continue to be more foreign-born American residents (almost 40 million) than at any time in our history (almost three times the previous peak in 1920). That’s raised understandable concerns not only about border control–with perhaps as many as a third of these immigrants in the country illegally–but about the extent to which new immigrants are following in the footsteps of their predecessors and assimilating into American culture–learning English, becoming citizens, moving up the economic ladder.