So much of the discussion of Hispanics in America is circumscribed by what one might call "The Immigrant Experience." Swirling around the minds of most journalists and academics who write about the subject are a set of Ellis Island clichés that go something like this: "Hispanics might commit crime at high rates now, and struggle with familial breakdown and the like, but just you wait! After a generation or two, they'll assimilate to the American Way, just like the Irish and Italians before them." We've all heard it.

The first problem with this view is that, by and large, Hispanics aren't immigrants. Two thirds of the population is native born.

The second problem is that, by and large, the third generation is worse off than the second on a host of issues, and sometimes worse off than first-generation immigrants. According to a recent Pew Center study, with respect to the second generation, third-generation Hispanics are...