melting pot or tossed salad?

The election is over, but while the politics stuff is still warm I wanted to share this interesting article on immigration.

Cougars Among the Flock

Immigration is one of those issues that I'm not always sure what to do with. How does the Gospel apply to immigration? What does a Gospel-centered perspective on immigration look like?

I'd like to read Dykstra's book entitled "Yearning to be Free." (That's a good Dutch name!) I'm intrigued by this guy's ideas. . . . here are a couple of excerpts. . .

The law of God also made a clear distinction between the foreigner willing to assimilate and the one who refused to do so. Isaiah 56:3-8 is a good example of the assurances and encouragements given to the foreigner who embraced Israel's culture. Ezekiel 44:6-9 is a good example too of the restrictions placed on the foreigner who refused to assimilate. These distinctions between the one willing to assimilate and the one who refused to do so are good and wise, and we put our future in peril by refusing to apply them to the current immigration debate.

WORLD: Why did we move from a "melting pot" emphasis to our current "tossed salad" thinking?

DYKSTRA: The jettisoning of our historic melting pot concept, (E Pluribus Unum—"out of many one"), has taken place because of our uncritical acceptance of multiculturalism. George Will recently wrote of "the sacramental nature of multiculturalism." The belief that no culture is superior to another is an assertion that needs to be challenged and not merely accepted. The roots of multiculturalism are Marxist, and the degree to which it has been accepted is frightening. The current "tossed salad" alternative to the "melting pot" will only lead to more and more fragmentation of society.

WORLD: When countries don't require immigrants to assimilate, what is likely to happen?

DYKSTRA: I guess that depends on the immigrants. If they are peaceful and law-abiding, then assimilation is bound to take place over time. If they arrive determined not to assimilate and determined to overthrow their host country, then that is a grave danger. This is precisely what we are facing with Islamists, and they are open and frank in admitting it. The clear goal of Islamists is the establishment of totalitarian theocracies. Their ultimate goal is the establishment of a borderless Islamic caliphate. Our policies in the West should be toward requiring assimilation into our common culture and opposing the dangerous policies of allowing immigrants to live in host countries separate from the overarching culture. We should begin by challenging the assumptions of multiculturalism.

What are your thoughts? How might these principles apply to hispanic immigration?