Being an immigrant here is a whole different story to that in the UK.

I jumped in a taxi today, as it was raining and I was in a hurry and no bus was in sight, and got chatting, as you do, to the driver.  His story was so typical of those one reads about.

Hassan came to the US four years ago after entering the Green card lottery system in his home country of Morocco.  Like me he was thoroughly vetted before approval - police and health checks, interviews at the US Embassy and so on.  When he arrived here he spoke not a word of the language and knew no one.  He got not one state handout. Nothing.  He started from scratch.  He told me he learnt English "on the street" and struggled financially.  Now he has "made it".  His English, though heavily accented, was pretty good.  He's been back to Morocco twice to visit his parents and family but would never return there for good.  Next year he will get his US citizenship.  He was eager to tell me that many of his friends had emigrated to Europe - as second best.  Even though there are multiple financial safety nets in Europe "Everyone's first choice is to come to America" he wanted me to know.  

I compare his story with the many I have come across back in Blighty where integration has failed to take place.  Second, and even third, generation immigrants have failed to learn to speak English and government, councils and NHS authorities are at pains to translate their literature into myriad different languages at the tax payers' expense. As a result whole swathes of diverse communities are living "parallel lives" to mainstream society.  It's a disaster.