The NYTimes has a really important article about the elderly in the immigrant community.

In this country of twittering youth, Mr. Singh and his friends form a gathering force: the elderly, who now make up America’s fastest-growing immigrant group. Since 1990, the number of foreign-born people over 65 has grown from 2.7 million to 4.3 million — or about 11 percent of the country’s recently arrived immigrants. Their ranks are expected to swell to 16 million by 2050. In California, one in nearly three seniors is now foreign born, according to a 2007 census survey.

Many are aging parents of naturalized American citizens, reuniting with their families. Yet experts say that America’s ethnic elderly are among the most isolated people in America. Seventy percent of recent older immigrants speak little or no English. Most do not drive. Some studies suggest depression and psychological problems are widespread, the result of language barriers, a lack of social connections and values that sometimes conflict with the dominant American culture, including those of their assimilated children.

I recently was at a party hosted by U.S. citizens, but had several citizens with their immigrant parents there. None of them spoke English–which, in my mind is not a problem. If I moved to Russia tomorrow and remained there the rest of my life, I promise you, I wouldn’t physically be capable of learning more than a few words of survival.

What is a problem, is that there are SO few accommodations ever made for people who don’t speak English in the U.S.–a place where citizens are notorious for refusing to learn more than one language (I remain convinced the U.S. is the only nation in the world that prides itself on the stupidity of it’s citizens.) and finds it a point of national pride on offering no help, not one drop, and not an iota more to those whose quality of life could be vastly improved by help. For example, although many of the English speaking children said hello to the older folks, after a small amount of time, we all drifted back to each other and, through language, restricted the older folks to the outside of the conversation. We literally used language to displace people in space where they were invited in.

What must happen to these same folks who are facing ageism, racism, sexism–AND a nationalism that equates knowledge of English language with worth?

The article brings up really important points about how the children of older immigrants steal social security checks, how older folks often refuse to accept assistance they are entitled to, how Congress was sure that old folks were trying to bilk the system and imposed a 5 year wait period before immigrants (those in the country LEGALLY) could apply for aid.

But even more importantly, the article ends with a touching description of what makes a home a home, of what makes a family a family:

So at the end of his day counseling others, Mr. Shahi sits with his mother before she goes to bed. He always asks if she needs any warm milk.

“The small things matter,” he said of his mother and other elders longing for home. “The feeling that they are welcomed.”

When you are in a strange place among strange people, sometimes, all you really need is a glass of warm milk. Something to remember as we continue the endless never-going-to-happen immigration debate.