Immigrant groups vary widely in their financial success and assimilation into American society. Financial success is easier to measure than assimilation. The Manhattan Institute’s assimilation index, developed by economist Jacob Vigdor, defines assimilation as the degree to which foreign-born adults can no longer be distinguished from the native-born population.

The index combines economic factors such as employment and education, cultural factors such as English proficiency and intermarriage, and civic factors such as citizenship and military service.

Other common measures include movement out of ethnic enclaves, fertility rates approaching native-born levels, and whether later generations still identify with their ancestry.

Two of the largest immigrant groups of their respective eras offer a useful comparison: Italians who arrived during the mass immigration wave of 1880–1920 and Mexicans who arrived in large numbers from the late 20th century onward. Researchers assess assimilation across generations by measuring how closely each group approaches the educational and economic levels of the native-born population.

The Immigration Act of 1924 sharply restricted arrivals from southern and eastern Europe but imposed no quotas on the Western Hemisphere. As Italian immigration declined, community averages increasingly reflected the second and third generations. Continued Mexican immigration adds first-generation arrivals to that community’s averages, but it does not explain gaps among U.S.-born descendants.

Italian Americans, numbering about 16 million, are sometimes considered model immigrants because of their educational and economic integration, English proficiency, patriotism, and adoption of American holidays and customs.

They perform better than national averages on the following economic and educational measures. According to Census Bureau data for 2017–2021, 42.7% of Italian Americans ages 25 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 33.7% of all Americans. Their median household income was $90,487 in 2022, compared with $74,755 nationally.

In 2017–2021, the Italian American poverty rate was 7.7%, compared with 12.6% nationally. Among children, the rates were 7.9% and 17%, respectively. Homeownership stood at 70.3%, compared with 64.6% nationally, while 7.1% of Italian American households received food stamps, compared with 11.4% of all households.

Language assimilation is nearly complete. Only 3.5% of Italian Americans are foreign-born, 93.4% speak only English at home, and 1.5% speak English less than “very well,” compared with 8.2% of all Americans.

This integration was evident decades ago. UCLA sociologist Vilma Ortiz noted that by 1980, Italian Americans had reached the education and occupational levels of other third-generation Europeans.

Although Italian Americans have largely lost their ancestral language, they maintain their heritage through festivals, food, and family traditions. That heritage also has a prominent place in American public life. Italian American leaders lobbied for Columbus Day, which President Roosevelt proclaimed in 1937. New York’s Columbus Day parade, billed as the world’s largest celebration of Italian American heritage, draws nearly one million spectators.

Mexican Americans are the country’s largest Hispanic-origin group, numbering roughly 40 million in 2024. In 2021, 71% were born in the United States. Among Mexican immigrants, 62% had lived in the country for more than 20 years, but only 35% were U.S. citizens, according to Pew Research Center. English proficiency was widespread: 74% of Mexican Americans ages 5 and older spoke only English at home or spoke English at least “very well.”

Educational and economic gaps remain. In 2024, only 10% of Mexican immigrant adults held a bachelor’s degree, compared with 37% of U.S.-born adults. Mexican immigrant households had a median income of $68,700, compared with $81,400 for U.S.-born households. About 16% of Mexican immigrants lived in poverty, compared with 12% of the U.S.-born population.

Among U.S.-born Mexican Americans, only 21% held a bachelor’s degree in 2021, compared with 35% of all Americans. Their poverty rate, at 18%, was slightly higher than the 17% rate among Mexican immigrants.

A March 2026 Center for Immigration Studies analysis of Census Bureau data found that 67% of non-citizen Mexican households use at least one means-tested program or have incomes low enough to qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit. The comparable figure for U.S.-born households was 31%.

Long-term research tracks these outcomes across generations. UCLA sociologists Edward Telles and Vilma Ortiz followed Mexican American families in Los Angeles and San Antonio from 1965 to 2000. Among the families studied, they found that economic progress halts at the second generation, poverty remains high in later generations, and educational attainment peaks in the second generation before declining in the third and fourth. Most fourth-generation Mexican Americans in the study still lived in Hispanic neighborhoods, married other Hispanics, and identified as Mexican.

Examining foreign-born adults, Vigdor’s Manhattan Institute index found very low rates of economic and civic assimilation among Mexican immigrants, linking their slow progress to the large share living in the country illegally.

The post Immigrants and Assimilation: Some Achieve the American Dream and Some Don’t appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A guest post by Kristine Christlieb, Editor, MFEI News & Commentary

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has appealed a judge’s dismissal of all felony charges against former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott, a step prosecutors rarely take.

Nessel filed the appeal on July 24 in the Michigan Court of Appeals, challenging Hillsdale County Circuit Judge Sara Lisznyai’s April 30, 2026, ruling.

Lisznyai dismissed the charges and found the lower court abused its discretion and made an “error of law” by sending Scott’s case to trial.

Prosecutors seldom appeal. National data are limited, but a 2018 peer-reviewed study by law professors Nancy King and Michael Heise found such appeals are rare.

The ruling dismissed every felony count and found both abuse of discretion and legal error. Nessel is appealing anyway.

In a May 8, 2024, press release announcing the charges, Nessel said Scott “intentionally disregarded numerous instructions from the Director of Elections,” referring to Jonathan Brater.

Scott believed those instructions violated the law, instructions which have since become rulesets with the force of law, a subject MFEI News & Commentary has examined in past articles and investigative reports.

Nessel also said in the release: “When elected officials and their proxies use their positions to promote baseless conspiracies, show blatant disregard for voter privacy, and break the law in the process, it undermines the very essence of the democratic process. Those who engage in such reckless conduct must be held accountable for their actions.”

Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd, the Republican candidate for Michigan attorney general, said in a written statement to MFEI News & Commentary:

“This is another example of Dana Nessel putting partisan lawfare ahead of the facts and evidence. As in the electors case, a judge threw this out for lack of merit. As Attorney General, I will put fair law ahead of lawfare and always base my decisions on facts and evidence.”

Eli Savit, the Democrat candidate for attorney general, did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Patrice Johnson, Michigan Fair Elections Institute Co-Founder and Chair, took a different view of Nessel’s motives.

“She is using the Scott case to intimidate and control Michigan clerks,” Johnson said in a telephone interview. “She’s sending a message: ‘If you don’t comply with our rules, this could happen to you.’”

“Nessel’s appeal is an only slightly more civilized version of putting an enemy’s head on a spike,” Johnson said. “Her actions are about psychological deterrence and public humiliation.”

If Nessel’s appeal succeeds — and King and Heise found prosecutors nationally win about 40 percent of the appeals they file — Scott will go to trial on four felonies and a misdemeanor. The most serious felony carries up to seven years in prison; the other four carry up to five years each.

The charges are:

• Using a Computer to Commit a Crime, a seven-year felony
• Computers – Unauthorized Access, a five-year felony
• Conspiracy to Commit the Offense of Computers – Unauthorized Access, a five-year
felony
• Misconduct in Office, a five-year felony
• Disobeying a Lawful Instruction or Order of the Secretary of State as Chief Election
Officer, a 90-day misdemeanor

What Did Scott Do?

In March 2021, Scott was a brand-new township clerk running her first election on a school millage. She was elected in November 2020 and took office that December.

As a new clerk, she consulted veteran Hillsdale County Clerk Marney Kast about the township’s tabulator logic and accuracy testing. “It seemed to me, statistically, there weren’t enough test ballots to perform the test,” Scott told MFEI News & Commentary in a phone interview. She believed the test required 21 ballots, but she was given only seven.

Scott said Kast brushed off her early questions about the tabulators. According to Scott, Kast told her, “Oh Stephanie, you and your math.”

Already concerned about the tabulators’ accuracy, Scott then received instructions to turn over her township’s tabulators for routine maintenance. She refused, saying she did not trust the machines and wanted to preserve their data.

She relied on federal statute 52 U.S.C. § 20701 and state statute MCL Section 168.811 both of which require election officials to keep all records of an election for 22 months. Brater maintained the maintenance did not destroy election data and did not violate the law because the paper ballots were preserved. The law requires keeping all records and papers for 22 months. All records . . . not just the ballots,” Scott said.

Acting as township clerk, Scott hired legal counsel and gave attorney Stefanie Lambert a thumb drive containing the township’s electronic poll book information. Lambert passed the drive to a computer forensics expert for examination. Lambert later faced criminal charges herself.

On Oct. 15, 2021, Brater ordered Scott to correct what he called her false claims and warned her of consequences. On Oct. 25, Director Brater stripped Scott of her election duties.

In May 2024, Nessel filed felony charges against Scott.

By January 22, 2025, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced her 2026 gubernatorial candidacy. Six weeks later, on March 5–6, 2025 — more than eight months past the legally required rule announcement deadline of July 1, 2024 — Benson had begun advancing three rule sets — 40 separate rules — governing the conduct of Michigan elections. Rule Set 2025-14 requires clerks to delete electronic poll book data seven days after certification. Nessel’s charges against Scott centered on electronic poll book data.

“There’s a direct line between Stephanie Scott’s refusal to delete her electronic poll book and Benson’s new rule sets,” Johnson said. “When Stephanie stood up and refused to comply, Benson appears to have decided to take action to keep clerks in line.”

The Process Is the Punishment

For more than five years, Scott has lived under the threat of action from the Bureau of Elections. She says she owes her attorney thousands of dollars, and the appeal has only just begun.

Civil and criminal appeals are notorious for dragging on, sometimes for years, and can bankrupt a defendant like Scott.

Then there is the constant psychological weight of criminal charges and possible prison time. People tend to assume the greatest harm in litigation comes from losing. But a 2020 Spanish study of 360 litigants by M. Clemente and D. Padilla-Racero found that those with the longest exposure to litigation reported the worst health.

Court delays, mounting costs, and legal tactics can wear people down long before a case ends, bringing anxiety, insomnia, bankruptcy, and a loss of trust in institutions.

Scott’s supporters have been helping her through a GiveSendGo account.

https://www.givesendgo.com/stephaniescottlegal

“A lot of people don’t realize my case has been appealed and that I now have a new round of legal expenses. This is a situation I never dreamed I would have to face. I was just trying to follow the law and protect the voters in my township,” Scott said.

Nessel’s Next Move

If Nessel loses the appeal, she will likely ask the Michigan Supreme Court to review the case. If she wins, Scott will stand trial in Hillsdale County and face the possibility of prison.

“Nessel wants to make Stephanie Scott the sacrificial lamb,” Johnson said. “A conviction would validate the very ‘instructions’ Benson later wrote into a regulatory rule. It is hard to overstate what is at stake in this case.”

The article in its entirety, can be found at MFEI.

The post Michigan’s Desperate Attorney General Dana Nessel Uses Final Months of Her Lawless Term To FINANCIALLY RUIN Honest Clerk For Refusing “Routine maintenance” On Vote Tabulators Over Security Concerns appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

President Trump will deliver remarks this afternoon for Republicans in Bullhead City, Arizona, before traveling to Montana to hold another rally this evening. 

Trump’s western tour kicked off with a rally in Alaska on Tuesday.

He told reporters while departing the White House on Wednesday, “I’m doing, on average, a rally a day” while previewing his stops and speaking about the midterms. “Do you think that’s easy? It’s not,” he added.

WATCH:

Trump is holding a rally in northwestern Arizona for statewide candidates for governor, attorney general, and secretary of state.

Trump-Endorsed Andy Biggs is running for governor against Democrat Katie Hobbs, who stole the 2022 election from Kari Lake.

Trump recently went off on the state’s largest county, Maricopa, after a so-called error caused thousands of mail-in ballots to be sent to voters by mistake before early voting had even started, another bizarre anomaly that raises concerns about potential cheating. “By the way, there were no errors. You know that, right? There were no errors,” Trump said, suggesting that the Maricopa mail-in voting is rigged. “They got caught,” he added.

Maricopa County Announces Runbeck Mistakenly Sent Out Thousands of Midterm Ballots – Trump Responds to TGP: “There Were No Errors… They Got Caught!” (VIDEO)

Earlier, a massive line of supporters was gathered to get into the rally.

📍Bullhead City, AZ

Huge line for President Trump’s event in Arizona ahead of the midterms https://t.co/bz8yhD7Lrw

— Alex Tabet (@AlexanderTabet) October 14, 2026

Real America's Voice's Ben Bergquam reports that supporters had been waiting in line overnight to see the President speak at 1 pm local time today.

WATCH:

President Trump is scheduled to speak at 4 pm ET.

Watch live below:

The post WATCH LIVE: Trump Speaks at Rally for Andy Biggs in Bullhead City, Arizona – 4:00 PM ET appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

President Trump Targeted “Somali Pirates” at His SOTU Speech This Year and Said to Ilhan Omar – “You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself”

This is really bad.  Omar has lost it.  She’s lied her entire life; now she doesn’t know what is true and what is not.

President Trump knows what’s going on, per a Truth Social post on Tuesday:

Why did Ilhan Omar report a Net Worth of up to 30 Million Dollars just a short time ago, and then immediately say, “Oh, I made a mistake! It’s really $100,000.” Could it be that her highly paid accountant actually reported the money that was stolen from her fraudulent activities in Minnesota? Would something like that be possible? Do you think the accountant actually gave the right number the first time, 30 Million Dollars, and then she was forced to disavow because she never would have been able to report where that much money came from? She must have freaked out when she saw that money! Where did her house come from, where did her cars come from, and what about her lovely place in Washington, D.C.? I didn’t know that Congressmen and women made that kind of money, but I do know her husband, according to information and belief, makes almost nothing, so it couldn’t have come from him. How many people did she illegally bring into our Country from Somalia? America wants answers, and we want them, NOW! President DONALD J. TRUMP

He went after Ilhan Omar and Somali pirates at his State of the Union speech this past year.

President Trump said directly to Omar, “You should be ashamed of yourself!”   (Omar responded by lying and screamed President Trump is killing Americans.”

Omar is nasty and caught.  She shared this on Tuesday.

https://t.co/ONXYvH1Kqj

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 13, 2026

She’s been caught, and she knows it.

The post President Trump Targeted “Somali Pirates” at His SOTU Speech This Year and Called Out Ilhan Omar – “You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has become one of America’s most distrusted election officials. Through years of policies that weakened voter ID requirements, expanded no-excuse absentee voting, and resisted efforts to clean the voter rolls, she has left a growing number of Michigan residents convinced that their elections can no longer be trusted.

From telling clerks to ignore signature matching on absentee ballot envelopes and applications in the 2020 election, to lying to the media about “windows being broken” at the TCF Center in Detroit and that “the Detroit Police had to cover them up,” Michigan voters have had it with her; yet undeterred, the most unlikeable Democrat in Michigan continues to push forward in her quest for power and is currently the Democratic candidate for governor.

HOLD TIGHT, AMERICA… Something BIG about Detroit’s November 2020 election is about to be revealed. We’re about to show you why these Democrat thugs covered the windows and why

@JocelynBenson

LIED to cover up the fraud, falsely calling Michigan’s elections be the “most safe and secure” in the state’s history.@yehuda_miller and
@DeluxePsypher
@HarmeetKDhillon

— PattyMI (@PattyLovesTruth) June 11, 2026

Earlier this week, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office issued a notice asking poll workers to sign up and be paid to work the upcoming election.  So far, 6.8K comments have been posted under the ad. About 50% of the comments reference voter fraud during Jocelyn Benson’s two-term tenure; many were national news stories.

All of them are comedy gold!

Here are just a few of the hilarious responses:

In some cases, a member of Jocelyn’s team jumps in to stop a comment from gaining momentum, like in the case of this comment by Jeffrey Brown, asking for ICE agents at every polling site. Benson’s team quickly jumped in to let everyone know they don’t anticipate ICE agents at polling locations, but if they do show up, they will prevent them from seeing the poll books.

This person is making a joke about being a midnight ballot drop worker, but on the day after the November 2020 election, when the Gateway Pundit was first to report about the white van making early morning ballot dumps from the back hallway of the TCF Center in Detroit, someone had to be paid to drive that van and unload the stacks of ballots, and we still have no idea where they came from.

The Gateway Pundit paid the TCF Center for surveillance footage of the back hallways of the absentee ballot-counting center in 2020, after the fake news mainstream media claimed we “had no evidence” to back up our claim that a van filled with ballots made 2 drop-offs on the day AFTER the election in the back hallway.

Note, the election worker enters the hallway through a door from inside the counting center and discreetly hands something (??) through the window to the driver of the escort car (with out-of-state license plates), who then drives away to allow the white van to enter and deliver the ballots at 3:30 AM.

https://t.co/gPZviSrKRQ

— PattyMI (@PattyLovesTruth) November 15, 2025

The response to this post is hilarious! The Facebook user, who goes by Jerry Bolthouse, asks if they’re want poll workers to “Work for Benson, the queen of fraud?” to which, the MI Sec. of State’s office replies, “No,” not for the Benson, the queen of fruad, but instead, “work for a local clerk.”

Michael Oster asks about the lack of transparency Jocelyn Benson’s administration is best known for, and another user expresses their hope that ICE will “show up at the Polls and keep things honest.”

Richard Paul claims he lives in Florida and is experienced at placing shutter over the windows for hurricanes and would be a great candidate if they need someone to cover the windows to prevent Republican poll challengers from viewing the absentee ballots being processed.

This person is asking about the extra hours that may be required to commit voter fraud and if they’ll need to stick around for the 2 am ballot drop.

Jacob asks whether pay varies for early-morning drivers and whether they’ll receive extra compensation for disposing of Republican ballots.

Stephanie would prefer ICE agents get preferential treatment when it comes to hiring poll workers and suggests everyday citizens could fill in the gaps.

This Facebook user offers to bring the pizza boxes to cover the windows and asks when Jocelyn Benson would like to have them delivered.

Doug Black asks if there will be instructions about how to tape boxes over the windows and how to bring in the 3 am ballt dumps after the poll watchers are kicked out of the room.

The next four comments are also from men volunteering to help cover the windows and ensure a lack of transparency.

Christopher Jones asks if college students can vote. He follows up by explaining that he’s “Asking for a Chinese kid” he knows. This tongue-in-cheek comment is a dig at Michigan’s insecure elections and reminds everyone how easy it was for a Chinese University of Michigan student to vote in Michigan’s 2024 election.

Mark asks if he can help create ballots for the upcoming elections, admitting he can only mark 250 ballots per shift, and asks, “Is the pay still 10 c-notes?”

This user suggests the MI SOS check with the National Guard if they need poll workers, adding, they “would be a great resource.”

Rhonda asks if Jocelyn Benson needs a “driver to the storage unit.”

And finally, Kel McKel reminds everyone, “It’s not who votes that matters; it’s who counts the votes that matters.”

While the abject lack of security and broken voter rolls in Michigan is no laughing matter, it is good to take a moment to laugh when we can. Life is short; evil will always be present; it’s up to us to do everything we can to stop it. Working at the polling places is one of the best ways to thwart voter fraud before it happens. If you live in Michigan, please sign up to work as a PAID poll worker.

The post COMEDY GOLD! MI Sec of State Jocelyn Benson Is Absolutely ROASTED Over Her Corrupt Elections In Comments Under Help Wanted Ad For Poll Workers appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

It’s a family affair!

The New York Times reported yesterday, that federal agents investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar issued subpoenas to some of her relatives, including her sister Sahra Noor, as well as at least one other family member. Cristina Laila reported on this development on Tuesday night.

These are grand jury subpoenas related to a criminal inquiry focused on the family’s immigration history — specifically, whether Omar’s late father, Nur Omar Mohamed, lied or omitted information on immigration forms before becoming a U.S. citizen.

As reported earlier, Ilhan Omar’s father was a colonel in the Somali regime and served as senior officer during the genocide of the Isaaq people.

He reportedly misrepresented himself as a refugee when he came to America.

BREAKING: DOJ Issues Grand Jury Subpoenas in Federal Criminal Investigation Into Ilhan Omar

Earlier Monday morning, federal agents raided the Washington, DC-area residence of far-left Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into her immigration paperwork.

Fox News Digital reported exclusively that the pre-dawn raid is part of an ongoing criminal fraud investigation into the Somali-born congresswoman’s immigration paperwork, documents filled out by her late father when she was a child.

According to her website, Ilhan Omar arrived in the United States in March 1995, when she was 12 years old. She came with her family as a Somali refugee after spending approximately four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2000, at age 17.

Ilhan's sister Sahra Noor has ties to the state’s massive government fraud scandal back in July.

The stunning connection emerged between Rep. Ilhan Omar’s family and the sprawling Feeding Our Future fraud scandal that robbed American taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars intended to feed needy children.

Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, registered her consulting company at a Minnesota residence connected through business records to several major figures in the Feeding Our Future operation, according to an investigation by The Daily Wire.

Noor founded Grit Partners Consulting, a health and leadership consultancy focused largely on projects in Africa.

Noor’s website claims that she has “secured more than $20 million in funding for health initiatives” and consulted on projects backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USAID, GAVI, and the World Bank.

The website does not say that Grit Partners itself received $20 million from USAID. Rather, Noor claims to have secured more than $20 million for health initiatives while consulting on projects supported by multiple agencies and organizations, including USAID.

According to The Daily Wire’s investigation, Grit Partners was registered at a home on Hyacinth Way in Lakeville, Minnesota.

That address reportedly belongs to Mashah Ahmed Ali and his wife, Ister Ahmed Afraa, also known as Ismahan Afraah.

The post BREAKING: DOJ Subpoenas Ilhan Omar’s Sister Sahra Noor Who Is Linked to Feeding Our Children Minnesota Fraud Scandal appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.