"I just recently came from San Francisco and I was in
   Chinatown...they don't speak English there. You can't live there
   unless you are Chinese.  And in walking in the streets, I heard all
   the young Chinese students speaking Chinese. That may work in San
   Francisco, but that would not work in Iowa. In order to participate
   in the community, you must speak English."-- Iowa State Senator Paul
   McKinley, July 26, 2006, testimony before the U.S. House of
   Representatives (during Q&A), http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/
   getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_house_hearings&docid=f:28838.wais

For those of you from the Bay Area, I remember hearing KGO radio talk
show host Ronn Owens saying something similar many years ago, along the
lines of, "I've been in San Francisco for 15 years now, and nothing has
changed.  They are still speaking Chinese in Chinatown, rather than
assimilating."

I would like to pose some questions regarding this quote:

1.  McKinley seems to be saying, and Owens said explicitly, that 
    Chinese immigrants don't assimilate.  Where is the flaw in their
    argument?

2.  In setting immigration policy, should assimilation be a goal?  And
    if so, to what degree should assimilation be expected, and what, if
    anything, should immigration policy do to facilitate it?

3.  I once proposed that the family-based portion of our immigration
    policy include a requirement of some minimal knowledge of English,
    as a precondition for immigration.  I argued that such a requirement
    could be implemented without much impact on the nationality,
    socioeconomic class, educational background and so on of our
    present immigrant mix.  Do you think such a requirement would be
    desirable and feasible?