Three conceptions of incorporation dominate the contemporary discussion of immigration to the U.S. At one vertex of a triangle of possibilities is assimilation, associated with gradual cultural, social, and socioeconomic integration into the mainstream society. While prevalent among the descendants of past immigrants to the United States–and also of those to other societies, such as France–its applicability to present–day immigrations has been called seriously into question (Alba and Nee, 1997; cf. Zhou, 1997). At another vertex lies the possibility of a vigorous, enduring ethnic pluralism, whose prospects seem enhanced by the advantages to be derived from ethnic affiliations in heterogeneous societies and by the border spannings enabled by enormous advances in transportation and communication (Portes and Bach, 1985; cf. Sanders and Nee, 1987; Glick Schiller et al., 1995; cf. Foner, 1997). Occupying the third vertex is a third widely discussed possibility that represents a special form of assimilation, but not of the kind generally highlighted in assimilation theory. It foresees the possibility that many in the second and third generations from the new immigrant groups, hindered by their very disadvantaged initial locations in American society and barred from entry to the mainstream by their skin color, are incorporated as racial minorities, either by absorption into domestic minorities, especially African Americans, or possibly by the establishment of other racialized categories (Portes and Zhou, 1993; Waters, 1999).