The new voice of immigration reform: First speak English, then maybe we'll let you in

[Dennis Baron]

There's a new post on the now-illustrated Web of Language

The new voice of immigration reform: First speak English, then maybe  
we'll let you in

In early June the Senate passed an amendment to the embattled  
immigration reform bill making English the national language of the  
United States.

The president’s immigration package has proved universally  
unpopular.  Liberals condemn the harsh requirements it imposes on  
undocumented workers, who must pay fines, go back to their home  
countries, and learn English before they can re-enter the U.S.  
legally, while conservatives condemn the bill for offering not  
punishment but amnesty to illegals.

Whatever your position on the immigration act, no one should welcome  
the National Language Amendment, which passed with strong bipartisan  
support, drawing little notice in the press, and few public comments.

The left should decry the amendment’s clear intent to make life more  
difficult for all immigrants, legal and otherwise, by reducing  
language services – both in English and in other languages – to  
facilitate their transition to English.  And the right should be  
screaming that, instead of making English official, as they’ve  
demanded for years, the National Language Amendment gives amnesty to  
speakers of Spanish, a language which Newt Gingrich recently  
characterized as ghetto.  But both sides seem to think the measure is  
just fine. . . .

to read the rest, and see living-color pictures of an English-only  
bar in Ohio and Gubernator Arnold Schwarzenegger, go to the Web of  
Language

www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage


Dennis

Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage

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