Civil Society, Headlines, Human Rights, Migration & Refugees, North America

RIGHTS-US: English Amendment Ignores Reality, Migrants Say

Ngoc Nguyen

SACRAMENTO, California, May 24 2006 (IPS) - With the U.S. Senate poised to vote by the end of this week on its version of a controversial immigration reform bill, many immigrants and their supporters are urging lawmakers to focus more on helping people from other cultures integrate into U.S. society.

Last week, the Senate approved amendments to the bill to make English the national language, to build a 370-mile fence along the Mexican border and to bar immigrants convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors, including evading a deportation order, from legalisation. However, the bill would also would create a “guest worker” programme and give an opportunity for legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants.

Should it pass, the legislation would have to be reconciled with an even tougher immigration reform measure approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in December.

On Monday, hundreds of immigrants and advocates rallied on the steps of the California state capital, calling on lawmakers to support immigrant rights.

The event drew multicultural and interfaith groups from across the state. Participants and spectators enjoyed multiethnic performances, including songs and skits in Spanish, a Korean drumming circle, and Hmong dancers.

Sixty-year-old Hoa Tran is from San Jose. He traveled to Sacramento to tell state lawmakers to support legislation that helps immigrants better integrate into U.S. society. He came to the United States about seven years ago, and recently earned his citizenship.

“Today is Immigrant Day, so I come here to support all the acts, the New Californians Act, that have benefits for the immigrants,” he said, eager to show off his newly acquired language skills. “I know. I am a new immigrant in San Jose. I know that the immigrant needs many, many things to survive in the U.S.”

Tran pointed to benefits such as health care, housing and access to information about social services in his language. But the English-only amendment approved by the Senate last week could make it harder for individuals like Tran to access services and integrate into society.

Appearing on a Sunday morning news show, U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales said English is the “common unifying language” and that it “represents a path to opportunity”. Gonzales was careful in saying that the declaration of English as the national language is symbolic, and would not undercut other federal and state laws that provide for language access.

Still, the English-only amendment has drawn fire from immigrants and advocates who fear it will roll back language access efforts and even compromise national security.

That’s something everyone should be concerned about, according to Sonal Ambegaokar, an attorney with the National Immigration Law Centre.

“It’s a real harmful measure, because (of) really critical things like national security or disaster relief,” she said. “If you take the Katrina example, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) would not be able to provide anything other than in English to announce evacuation procedures or to get relief to people. And given our demographics and the changes, it’s impossible to imagine how you would conduct a disaster relief operation without other languages.”

Like others at the rally, Alvaro Huerta, with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, favours policies that support new immigrants with coordinated services and civic education.

“I think there’s a huge misperception about immigrants wanting to learn English and integrating into society,” he said. “Everybody wants to do as well as they can in our society and English is a part of that. But to require people to do so and not back it up with hard money and services is uncalled for because you’re also going to be denying a lot of people access to voting, (and) learning civic education so they can become citizens.”

“So, we’re really impinging on the ability of people to integrate into our society. If that’s the ultimate goal of wanting them to learn English, we’re not going about it the right way.”

Speaking in Spanish, Maria Reyes said she has taken classes, but that English hasn’t “stuck” with her. She is active with Mujeres Unidas y Activas, a community-based group that provides leadership training for women. She explained how lack of medical translators affected her personally.

“I had to go to the hospital,” she said. “I had to wait there for 16 hours, and it was in part because I didn’t speak very good English and there was no one at the hospital that spoke Spanish, so literally all day I kept hearing ‘I’m really sorry, I don’t speak Spanish, we’re sorry, we’re sorry.'”

Attorney Ambegaokar views incidents like Maria’s as an infringement of civil rights. Ambegaokar explained the interplay between civil rights and language access: “Language access addresses that in that just because you may not be English proficient that does not prevent you from learning about your right to certain benefits or participating in democracy and that government works for everybody regardless of race and national origin.”

While advocates like Ambegaokar view language access as a civil right, others view it as a human right.

Nam Thai is a Vietnamese American social worker, who attended the rally with her Mexican husband Vicente Saurez, who is an electrician. Nam Thai came to the United States as a refugee in 1985.

“We as immigrants and refugees to this country need to speak out for our rights,” she said. “It is our right to belong, to live here, to work, to have a family and to speak the language of our native lands. That’s a part of our culture. If you take that away from us, to me, that’s cultural genocide.”

“I send my daughter to Vietnamese language school every Sunday, so she can have that as part of her cultural heritage. And she’s at Spanish daycare, Monday through Friday. She can communicate to her grandmother who doesn’t speak English.”

The couple’s two children are on their way to becoming trilingual – a skill they believe is an asset in an increasingly global economy and world.