It seems to be a generally accepted notion, that the home grown terrorists, that is, the people who have resided in the USA either as naturalized citizens or green card holders who enjoy almost all rights of a citizen except not be able to vote in elections tend to become terrorists because they suffer from isolation. They do not feel totally accepted in their new homeland and the ties with the land they left behind is gradually severing due to distance and infrequent contacts. They feel like misfits. Naturally. Alien misfits become terrorists. Hardly.
It is also generally accepted among elite media as well as the security authorities that the USA need to do more to make immigrants feel less isolated, more welcome and totally assimilated. It is this nation's job to provide such ease and comfort. Not entirely possible. Someone even cited an example of Irish immigrants of early years who having suffered alienation by this country became communists. It is not quite an appropriate example. If the USA had provided assimilation, or if they had not left their homeland does one really think communism would not have sprung among them? The comparison is not only ridiculous but is quite outrageous.
My take on this is that yes, all immigrants feel like misfits to some extent, initially. They have adopted a land which is so different in customs, language, religion, food, dressing and laws from the land they left. I was and am still a misfit. Now for a long time.
The immigrants choose this land to be their land of opportunity and prosperity. The first wave of immigrants do well; do well despite lot of struggle. They understand; transplanting is full of trials. They manage to survive the tribulations because they learn to separate their home life from the outside the home life. They maintain their original lifestyle undisturbed, uninterrupted and suffer no inner conflicts within the confines of four walls of their homes. And, I am very happy to say that this country preserves and respects the sanctity of four walls called home.
It is the young children of emigres who have the most difficulties. When they go to school they face different world than what their parents expose them to at home. The conflicts emerge in children's minds when they are taught at home, overtly, covertly as well as sublimally, that the parents' customs, culture, dressing and religion are superior to that of the USA. The kids become conflicted and have enormous difficulties adjusting to this duality. For children to process any kind of conflicting duality is difficult. At the end what is taught at home wins out because of their love and adulations for their parents. Parents cannot be wrong!
The USA need not assume the entire responsibility for making misfits and thus the terrorists out of immigrants. The settlers themselves have and do contributed/contribute a lot towards their own alienation and therefore bitterness.
