"Your very first link is to a university."

The content is not from an academic at a university (though that shouldn't actually matter), it is quoting Teddy Roosevelt from over 100 years ago.

"the only place the word "assimilate" is mentioned is the title"

It uses "assimilation" 9 times in the text.

"whether America can assimilate"

It uses it both ways ("assimilation has never been easy for immigrants or Americans already here.") and both are perfectly fine.

"another link to a university"

Again, somehow smart people using the word means it can't be used on a debate site??

"the word 'assimilate' in quotation marks"

because the definition is the point of the story - reading more than the title we find:

"What does assimilation mean these days? The word has its roots in the Latin ‘‘simulare,’’ meaning to make similar. Immigrants are expected, over an undefined period, to become like other Americans, a process metaphorically described as a melting pot. But what this means, in practice, remains unsettled."

"For some, assimilation is based on pragmatic considerations, like achieving some fluency in the dominant language, some educational or economic success, some familiarity with the country’s history and culture."

"For yet others, the whole idea of assimilation is wrongheaded, and integration — a dynamic process that retains the connotation of individuality — is seen as the better model."

"In 1890, this newspaper ran an article explaining that while ‘‘the red and black assimilate’’ in New York, ‘‘not so the Chinaman.’’"

"By contrast, Donald Trump warned on the campaign trail that ‘‘not everyone who seeks to join our country will be able to successfully assimilate.’’"

"Immigrants contribute to America in a million different ways, from growing the food on our tables to creating the technologies we use every day. They commit far fewer crimes than native-born citizens. But hardly a week goes by when poor assimilation isn’t blamed for offenses involving immigrants"

"Both incidents were immediately seized upon by the far right as examples of the inability — or refusal — of Muslims to assimilate."

"The white nationalist Richard Spencer told a reporter that he once bonded with Stephen Miller, now a senior White House adviser, over concerns that immigrants from non-European countries were not assimilating."

"I can't be arsed with the last two."

Because of cognitive dissonance perhaps??

"At the turn of the century a wave of “new immigrants” — Poles, Italians, Russian Jews — were believed to be too different ever to assimilate into American life."

"Immigrants to our shores today are following closely in the path of their predecessors, assimilating rapidly just like they did in the past"

"The illusion of nonassimilation is created by looking only at newcomers who have not had time yet to assimilate"

"our nation’s latest immigrants are following in the footsteps of our ancestors, spreading out across the country to assimilate in communities large and small"

"The longer immigrants are here, the more they assimilate"

You spend more time proving yourself ignorant than you would just by looking up a word when you don't know what it means. Or, since you are so often wrong, maybe you should skip the grammar-nazism and focus on the actual debate topics.

Then I'll just use one - yours - since it reinforces that the word use is fine:

"Attempts to compel minority groups to assimilate have occurred frequently in world history."

or the dictionary

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assimilate

what customs do you think immigrants are not embracing which infringe on local laws?

Racism against blacks. Until they become part of the gang they aren't welcome.

Kind of like black Republicans, but you meant blacks that do as you tell them.