ProEnglish-led coalition protests Mexican truck driver English policy

In a letter to President Bush dated May 5, ProEnglish and fifteen other organizations protested the Administration’s policy of letting Mexican truck drivers demonstrate their required English proficiency by answering questions in Spanish.

Drafted by ProEnglish, the letter responds to a Senate oversight hearing in March at which U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters admitted that Mexicans driving trucks into the United States under the Administration’s border demonstration project are designated “proficient in English” even if they have to use Spanish to explain the meaning of U.S. traffic signs.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations that regulate U.S. trucking companies require drivers to “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.”

As Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) bluntly observed during the hearing, “If you answer in Spanish, you’re not English proficient.”

ProEnglish Chairman Bob Park said, “It’s hard not to be angry at this. Federal safety regulations exist to protect the public. Truck drivers on U.S. roads who cannot speak English are clearly a risk to themselves and other motorists. They cannot read traffic warning signs or hazard signs on other vehicles. And they cannot talk to police or public safety officials in the event of an accident. This is yet one more example of the Administration’s irresponsible policies on language,” he added. 

In recent years there have been terrible accidents in which a truck driver’s failure to understand English was at fault. In one case six children in one family were killed near Chicago when their parents’ minivan exploded in flames after colliding with a tail-light assembly that had fallen off a truck. The truck driver could not speak English and did not understand other truckers on the road who tried to warn him about the dangerous condition of his tail-light assembly.

The letter to the president said, “Tractor trailer rigs weighing 80,000 lbs. or more traveling at speeds of 70 mph or higher are very dangerous machines. The American people have a right to expect that operators of such vehicles read and understand English well enough to answer questions in English about U.S. traffic and warning signs.” Other organizations signing the letter included: America’s Independent Truckers’ Association, Eagle Forum, US Business and Industry Council, Coalitions for America, and Concerned Women for America.

Sen. Dole leads effort to revoke E.O. 13166

Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) has introduced legislation in the Senate, S.2719 that would repeal Executive Order 13166 (E.O. 13166). Without any debate or authorization by Congress, E.O. 13166 attempts to force government offices and other federal funds recipients to provide services in multiple languages, by distorting the meaning of the civil rights law. 

The order was issued by President Clinton and left in place by President Bush. In 2004 the Office of Management and Budget estimated its cost to taxpayers at $1-2 billion per year. In the face of lawsuits by ProEnglish and other groups challenging its constitutionality, implementation of E.O. 13166 has been slow. But due to the enormous scope of the bureaucratically-engineered entitlement, when fully implemented the cost is certain to soar.   
 
For example, in Oklahoma an Iranian immigrant filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation charging the state’s department of public safety with “discrimination” for not making driver’s license exams available in the Iranian national language, Farsi. Doctors, hospitals and other health care providers who participate in Medicare face the loss of federal funding and even prosecution if they fail to provide interpreters for non-English speaking patients free of charge. 

The following Senators have signed on as co-sponsors of S.2719:                                

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)

If your Senators are not yet co-sponsors of S.2719, please call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask them to do so.  If you use the Internet you also can visit our website www.proenglish.org (see “Action”) to send them an email message free of charge.

Democratic leaders blocking congressional action on English

At least seven official English or related bills are now pending in Congress. Despite the fact that two of the bills have more than 100 co-sponsors, Democratic leaders in Congress are refusing to even hold hearings on the legislation.

The inaction comes in the face of national surveys by a number of polling organizations which show that 83 to 87 percent of the general public, including huge majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, favor making English the official language.
 
Why is this happening? After all, almost nothing Congress is currently working on enjoys such lopsided public support. A clue came last fall when Sen. Alexander (TN) succeeded in attaching an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have blocked funding for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuits against employers that have English-on-the-job rules.

The amendment was denounced by members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and a coalition of ethnic special interest groups. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi caved in to the pressure, and used her powers to strip the amendment from the omnibus appropriations bill. These same special interest groups are behind the Democratic leaders’ inaction this year.

Some of the bills the Democratic leadership is blocking are:

H.R.997, the English Language Unity Act of 2007, by Rep. Steve King (R-IA). This bill makes English the official language of the United States. The bi-partisan bill has 147 co-sponsors in the House.
 
H.R.769, the National Language Act of 2007, by Rep. Peter King (R-NY). This official English bill also repeals bilingual ballots. It is a bi-partisan bill with 63 co-sponsors.

S.1335, the S.I. Hayakawa Official English Language Act of 2007, by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK).  This is the companion bill to H.R. 769 in the Senate. It has 8 co-sponsors.

H.R.4464, the Common Sense English Act, by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA). This bill protects the right of employers to have English language workplace rules. It currently has 103 co-sponsors in the House.

S.2453, the Protecting English in the Workplace Act, by Sen. Alexander (R-TN). This is the Senate version of H.R. 4464, and similar to the Alexander amendment that passed the Senate last year.

S.2719, a bill to repeal Executive Order 13166, by Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-TN). The order creates an entitlement to federally funded services in foreign languages.

Puerto Rico plebiscite bill faces possible House action

On April 22nd, the House Committee on Natural Resources passed H.R. 900, The Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2007. The action clears the way for the House leadership to bring the bill to the floor for a vote at any time. 

Introduced by Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), H.R. 900 would require Puerto Ricans to hold a nationwide referendum for the fourth time since 1967 to indicate whether they want to become a state or remain a commonwealth. The bill is backed by pro-statehood interests unhappy that Puerto Ricans have rejected statehood during elections held in 1967, 1993, and 1998. 

ProEnglish opposes H.R. 900 because it does not require Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico to adopt English as the sole official language of its government operations as a pre-condition to statehood. 

In 1811, President James Madison signed the Louisiana Enabling Act that admitted Louisiana as a state. But the Act required the largely French-speaking territory to adopt English as the language of its government.  Admitting Puerto Rico without requiring official English would be unprecedented and would lead to immediate demands for the U.S. to operate in Spanish as well as English.  

In addition to its failure to require English, ProEnglish objects because the plebiscite the bill calls for has a two-stage voting process that is rigged in favor of a pro-statehood vote.   

Judge: Learn English or go to jail!

Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski made headlines in March when he sentenced three Spanish-speaking gang members convicted of assault and conspiracy to commit armed robbery in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Facing up to two years in jail, the judge told the men they could stay out on parole if they learned English, got jobs, and earned high school graduate equivalent degrees. He ordered them to return to court after a year and take an English fluency test. “If they don’t pass, they’re going in for the 24 (months),” Olszewski promised.

Judge Olszewski came up with the idea after he saw that all three defendants needed full-time translators during their court hearing.

But before the sentence could be carried out, the men – all resident aliens from the Dominican Republic – were arrested by officers from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and placed in deportation proceedings. 

Efforts to strengthen official English laws in Georgia & Alabama fall short

Efforts by state lawmakers to put teeth into official English laws already on the books in Georgia and Alabama came up short in legislative action this spring.

In Georgia, State Rep. Tim Bearden (R-68) led a spirited effort to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot for a statewide voter referendum. Georgia adopted a law making English its official language in 1996. But the law has a huge loophole that lets state agencies issue official documents in other languages at “the discretion of their governing authorities.”

Among other things, the loophole allows state officials to jeopardize the safety of its motorists by letting driver’s license applicants take written exams in up to 16 different languages, including many that do not even use the Roman alphabet. If Bearden’s bill had passed the legislature and been approved by voters, it would have ended the discretion of state officials to use other languages at will. His bill won a majority in the Georgia House, but fell short of the two-thirds margin required for a constitutional amendment.  

In Alabama State Senator Scott Beason (R-17) and State Rep. Greg Canfield (R-48) introduced bills to clarify the meaning of the official English provision of Alabama’s state constitution. Their bills were triggered by a 5-4 Alabama Supreme Court ruling on a suit brought by five Alabama members of ProEnglish that challenged the state’s policy of giving driver’s license exams in foreign languages. The ruling let Alabama officials maintain the policy despite the language of Alabama’s constitution which says that state officials “shall take all steps necessary to insure that the role of English as the common language of Alabama is preserved and enhanced.”  

Both Alabama bills were killed in committee despite predictions that if they came up for a vote, they would pass easily.  

Iowa court win for official English

In April an Iowa state judge upheld Iowa’s official English law, ruling that it barred Iowa’s Secretary of State from distributing voter registration forms in other languages.

ProEnglish board chairman Bob Park praised the decision, “This is a huge win for official English laws everywhere. It totally rebuts an argument our opponents frequently use that official English laws are merely symbolic and don’t have any meaning. In Iowa you will no longer find voter registration forms in languages such as Spanish, Laotian, and Vietnamese,” he added.  

As a state senator in 2002 U.S. Congressman Steve King (R-IA) was almost single-handedly responsible for passing Iowa’s official English law. After Iowa Secretary of State Michael E. Mauro refused to stop distributing the voter registration forms in other languages, King and eight other Iowans filed suit.

King applauded the decision, “I authored the English Language Reaffirmation Act…and I can tell you that we wrote it to have meaning.” He went on to express his relief that in Iowa, the government was not above the law.

The decision stands in stark contrast to a recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court regarding state officials giving driver’s license exams in foreign languages. In that case a 5-4 court majority refused to enforce the official English provision of the state constitution that voters approved by a 9-1 margin in a statewide voter referendum. 

Philly Cheese steak restaurant turns tables, to sue city

The owner of Geno’s Steaks – a landmark Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant that was accused of illegal discrimination by Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations and threatened with prosecution over its “please speak English” sign – is now threatening to sue the City unless it agrees to revise its discrimination rules.

The story drew national headlines in 2006 after the Commission filed a complaint charging Vento with discrimination. The sign that owner Joey Vento posted at his restaurant’s busy take out window reads “This is America…when ordering, please speak English.”

Vento refused to remove his sign and fought the complaint with the help of the Atlanta-based Southeastern Legal Foundation. In March, after a 21 month investigation, the Commission voted to drop its complaint after threatening Vento with fines and the loss of his business license.

Now in a letter addressed to Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Vento’s attorneys are threatening to sue the city for violating his constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, and freedom of speech unless it agrees to revise its Fair Practices Ordinance to prevent the same thing from happening to other Philadelphia businesses.

Study shows companies gain by teaching employees English

The Conference Board, a research group famous for producing the Consumer Confidence Index and the Index of Leading Economic Indicators, has released a new study of American companies that found few companies are working to improve their employees’ English skills, despite the benefits such training brings.
 
Its report took note of the increasing share of non-English speaking immigrants in the workforce and said “evidence suggests companies could do well to hire the best available talent, irrespective of their language limitations, and invest in language training.”
 
A media release on the study cited an earlier Conference Board survey in which more than 60 percent of the employers surveyed said that English language skills “are very important for new workforce entrants to be successful.” The release said that “most studies find a strong, positive relationship between English proficiency and earnings,” and observed that to the extent that employee earnings can be used to measure productivity, improving non-English speaking employees’ English skills “could result in significant productivity increases.”

ProEnglish Chairman executive director K.C. McAlpin commented, “For years ProEnglish has argued that encouraging immigrants to speak English not only benefits them, but strengthens our communities and our nation as a whole. This Conference Board study is more evidence of that truth. So it is hard to understand why the National Chamber of Commerce and some local Chambers oppose official English, and align themselves with special interests that benefit by keeping immigrants isolated, alienated, and poor,” he added.

Oklahoma state senate blocks official English referendum

By a razor thin margin of 25-23, Democrats in the Oklahoma State Senate killed a statewide referendum on official English. Had Senate Bill 163 passed and been approved by the voters, Oklahoma’s name would have been added to the 30 states that already have official English laws. The measure’s principal sponsors were Oklahoma State Rep. Randy Terrill (R-53) in the House and Oklahoma State Sen. Owen Laughlin (R-27) in the Senate. Terrill succeeded in passing it in the State House by a vote of 70-28.

A poll early this year by the Tulsa World newspaper and KOTV Channel 6 found that a lopsided majority of 88 percent of state residents favored official English, making it very likely that the measure would have been approved by the voters had it made it to the ballot.

But State Senate Democratic leaders employed a rarely used legislative device to substitute a measure that had been gutted of all meaning and label it an ‘official English’ bill. With the help of Republican defector Sen. Harry Coates (R-28), they were then able to pass it in the Senate.

State Rep. Randy Terrill commented, “The Democrats’ passing off their proposal as Official English is like a taxidermist telling you he’s just like your vet because either way you get your dog back.” 

Terrill singled out ProEnglish for praise in helping to draft the original legislation and trying to get it in the state senate. “ProEnglish’s expertise in drafting official English legislation based on its long experience defending such laws in court was indispensable in writing a bill that would have be effective and could have withstood legal challenge,” he said. Terrill added, “ProEnglish also ran an extremely effective radio ad campaign that almost got us over the top the week of the Senate debate.”

“Even though we came up short this time, the issue is not going away and next year we’ll be back,” he promised.  

Nashville councilman leads petition drive

Nashville Tennessee City Councilman Eric Crafton doesn’t give up. In Feb. 2007 he overcame the well-funded opposition of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of left-wing groups to pass an official English ordinance that would have made Nashville the largest city in the country with official English.

But although he had the backing of a majority of city council members, it wasn’t enough to override a veto by then-Mayor Bill Purcell.

Now Crafton is back, determined to take the issue away from politicians who can be swayed by special interest groups and put it before the people. He has launched a citizen’s petition campaign named Nashville English First (www.nashvilleenglishfirst.com), to put a referendum on the city ballot this November. Nashville citizens can download unsigned petitions from the website, sign them and send them in.

He estimates he needs 15,000 signed petitions to qualify the initiative and give Nashville citizens a chance to vote on making English the official language of city operations. Tennessee is one of thirty states that already have made English the official language of state government.

Illinois forces school to teach ESL students in Spanish

A suburban Chicago area school district was forced to retreat from its policy of teaching non-English speaking students primarily in English, thanks to a state law that requires schools to use the failed bilingual education model in which students are taught mainly in their native language.

Five years ago the Diamond Lake School District in Mundelein defied the law and began teaching ESL students primarily in English, and gave up state and federal funding as a result. Since then test results of the district’s ESL students have shown great improvement. Two of its three schools were listed on the Illinois schools’ honor roll the past two years. 

Now the Illinois State Board of Education said a compromise had been reached under which the district will get its funding and be allowed to continue teaching existing ESL students primarily in English. But new ESL students will have to be taught primarily in their native language, which is mainly Spanish.

ProEnglish board member Dr. Rosalie Porter, who has spent her career and written books on ESL education, denounced the settlement as a setback for the hopes and aspirations of immigrant children. “After thirty-five years of its abject failure to teach children English, I co-chaired the citizens’ campaign in Massachusetts that got rid of bilingual education in my state,” she said. “For the sake of the children, I urge Illinois state officials to think about whose interest they are serving, by keeping that discredited system in their state,” she added.

ProEnglish testifies for Ohio official English bill

ProEnglish director of government relations Jayne Robtoy testified in favor of an Ohio official English bill before a panel of state legislators in early May.

House Bill 477, introduced by State Representative Robert P. Mecklenborg (R-30), would require all state, county, and local government boards and agencies to communicate in English, with common sense exceptions to protect public health and safety, teaching foreign languages etc.

Testifying before the panel Robtoy said, “making English the official language of Ohio would provide a powerful incentive for new immigrants in the state to learn English…  Multilingual government does not encourage learning English. Instead, it isolates [non-English speaking] Ohio residents by removing major incentives for them to learn English.  In this way multilingualism policies contribute to a growing underclass, where people are segregated into linguistic ghettos.”