How far do some members of the Republican seemingly want to go to alienate away a f the country’s growing Hispanic voter block? This far:
Republicans introduce legislation in the House and Senate to make English the official language of the U.S.
Republicans in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would declare English the official language of the United States and require the development of English language testing guidelines for those applying for U.S. citizenship.
The English Language Unity Act would set out a new chapter in U.S. code that imposes an obligation on U.S. officials to “preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language of the Federal Government.
Part of this chapter would include a “uniform English language rule” holding that “all citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the laws of the United States made in pursuance of the Constitution.”
To ensure this outcome, the bill would require the secretary of Homeland Security to issue a proposed rule for testing the English language ability of candidates for citizenship. The bill envisions possible exceptions to this standard but says these exceptions “should be limited to extraordinary circumstances, such as asylum.”
The bill also says English language requirements and workplace policies in the public and private sectors “shall be presumptively consistent with the Laws of the United States.”
Prediction: this will not set well with many Hispanic voters, Hispanic groups, and get out the vote Latino groups in 2012 who will argue that it is aimed at those in the United States who come from Spanish speaking backgrounds — notably, Mexico. But perhaps they are being paranoid. Perhaps it’s being aimed at the huge number of immigrants from Poland, Upper Volta, and Hong Kong who are pouring in the United States.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.