Immigrants must learn English

Below is an letter I submitted to the Chicago Tribune

I am writing to comment on the article written by Victor Davis Hanson and appearing in the Commentary Section of the Chicago Tribune on Friday, June 15, 2007. The article can be found at http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson061807.html or http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/premium/printedition/Friday/chi-oped0615hansonjun15,1,5887784.story?ctrack=1&cset=true.

Mr. Hanson strikes a rather sensitive nerve in his article, especially about the political and media elites who have been and will continue to be untouched by this nation's scandalous lack of a coherent immigration policy. The fundamental goal of new immigration policy must be based in building American citizens who will make a commitment to the future growth of this nation. We have to be realistic about what these immigrants want and they must have a clear, unambiguous message of what will be expected of them. We must know whether these newcomers are here to build a nation and plant roots or are the simply sojourners who plan to send whatever monies they make back to their home country?

One of the easiest ways to discern an immigrant's commitment to this land is the strict enforcement of English language requirements for all people looking for permanent residency status or citizenship. This nation is not going to be served by its Balkanization based on language. People must learn English to effectively navigate government and commerce in this land and any immigrants rights advocate worth their salt must admit this. Learning English can be the key for an immigrant that will allow him or her to emerge from an ethnic enclave to the seats of political and economic power in the nation.

This economic and political empowerment can be dangerous to so many so-called immigrants' rights advocates because as immigrants become empowered, they will rely less and less on these brokers and intermediaries and take their own future into their own hands. This is what every immigrant group has done since the founding of the nation but many now want to jump immediately to total political empowerment without the first important step of inculcation into the American culture and the fundamental step in that inculcation learning English.