Here's what AFLA wants of newcomers

Our organization, The Association for Legal Americans, has been characterized by some as a "hateful group" for giving some suggestions to Elgin's outreach coordinator. We offered a list of 24 responsibilities that ought to be taught to newcomers.

Twenty of those 24 responsibilities are based on local, state or federal laws and ordinances. The rest are an attempt to define for immigrants the community norms that reduce friction and preserve tranquility. Some of these concepts will seem foreign (pun intended) to people from Third World countries, which incidentally are the vast majority of our immigrants since 1965.

For example, our first suggestion was: "You are expected to be financially responsible and support yourself and your family." We went on to explain that financial responsibility meant health insurance, car insurance and saving for retirement.

The United States has had a long-standing requirement that immigrants prove self-support/sponsorship so as to avoid becoming a public charge. Yet government data suggests that this is a requirement more honored in the breach than in the observance.

For a complete list of our 24 assimilation suggestions, please visit our Web site at legalamericans.net and click on the "Assimilation" box.

I believe there is a reason millions of people want to come to America. I believe that reason is our way of life. I'm sure that some call us arrogant for attempting to define Elgin's norms, but we do not apologize for our attempts to preserve the standards of our great nation by communicating the expectations of our society to newcomers.

Doug Heaton

Elgin