MYTH: "Immigrants don't want to learn English or become Americans"

Immigrants today prove what centuries of immigrants have done before them--they have come here to work hard, succeed, raise the American flag with pride and embrace the freedoms and opportunity that make America great. Immigrants who arrived in the past 25 years have assimilated faster in terms of employment, education, homeownership, ability to speak English, naturalization rates, and military service than their counterparts of a century ago.

Despite a drastic fee hike, in 2007, nearly 1.4 million immigrants applied to become U.S. citizens--almost double the number who applied in 2006. A majority of Hispanics believe that immigrants have to speak English to be a part of American society.

High rates of military service among immigrants--35,000 immigrants or 2 percent of all U.S. troops have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan--reflect a deep commitment to the American way of life.