ProEnglish Chairman Responds to Cardinal Dolan

ProEnglish Chairman Responds to Cardinal Dolan in The Wall Street Journal

Rosalie Porter
The Wall Street Journal
October 24, 2013

As a practicing Catholic and an immigrant myself, I took interest in Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s“Immigration and the Welcoming Church” (Houses of Worship, Oct. 18). However, he is misinformed regarding the immigration bill passed by the Senate. Cardinal Dolan says it would “require participants to learn English” to attain citizenship, but this has been federal law for legal immigrants since 1907.

S. 744 contains no requirement for illegal immigrants to learn English in order to get work permits or amnesty. Their work permits can be renewed indefinitely. They only have to show some knowledge of English if they apply for green cards after 10-and-a-half years of residency.

Cardinal Dolan refers to “barriers to immersion,” yet the Senate bill works against immigrant assimilation. If the Senate bill becomes law, the reverse of what the cardinal predicts will occur. Demands for foreign-language government services will increase and divide the U.S. into separate linguistic enclaves, moving us further away from e pluribus unum (“from many, one”).

Rosalie P. Porter

Chairman

ProEnglish

Arlington, Va.

Read the letters here.