Biden on Immigration: Go Joe!

Okay, I'll admit it, I did a bit of navel-gazing in my last post, but I am passionate about my students. After I re-read it, I thought, I know a lot about Joe Biden and I have read his biography, Promises to Keep, which I highly recommend and I know he is thoughtful, passionate and pragmatic about just about every major issue, but I did not know where he came down on immigration-- an issue very near to my heart. The stories I could tell you--but that's another blog for another day.

Anyway, his website was void of info, so I did what any curious 21st century type would do--I ran to Facebook-- where David Moss, on the Biden for President-2008 group pointed me to OnTheIssues.org. This is a great resource that shows the voting record of members of Congress on a plethora of issues. Biden voted YES on the fence, but only as it would be a positive tool in fighting drug-trafficking, which is a major cause of violent crime on the border. He voted YES on comprehensive immigration reform, NO on eliminating the "Y" nonimmigrant guestworker program, YES on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship, YES on allowing more foreign farm workers, No on visas for skilled workers (where you really see wages depressed if you ask me), NO English as a National Language--thank you, since the Founding Fathers left it out on purpose, and I believe intuitively understood linguistics better than any of this alarmist English-only types.

I am still looking for more insight on these issues, but I am glad to see that Joe seems to be taking, a reasonable, thoughtful and principled approach to the immigration question. I will continue to follow this issue and reach out to the campaign when I am able, to encourage a well-formed, public position on immigration reform. Far to many hard-working families' lives hang in the balance--not to mention the soul of our country--founded by immigrants.

Below is an entry I wrote last year, discussing the "English question". The information I have on Joe Biden's vote is from his No vote on June 6, 2007 for the "National Language Ammendment Act" Bill S. Amdt. 1151 to S.1348.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

English the National Language?

It passed in the Senate. But why? Was English in danger? No. I'll bet most people didn't even know that we didn't have a national language. Well, back when we were forming this country and drafting a Constitution it was decided by our wise founding fathers not to have one. First of all, we had just broken away from those taxing imperalists, the English, remember? German was bounced around as an alternative, but cooler heads prevailed. After all, whether or not our founding fathers had studied linguistics, they intrinsically understood that we would speak whatever worked for us--without even symbolically excluding anyone who spoke another native tongue.

What works for us is English. Immigrants learn English--even Spanish-speaking immigrants. In three generations the home-country language dies in any family here unless the latest generation studies the language in school. We have a great, big Spanish-speaking neighbor. Our neighborhood, our hemisphere, is crowded with Spanish-speaking countries, where, by the way, it seems anyone with a little extra cash pays for an English course. Why? Because English is not in danger.

Not only does the rich neighbor, the United States, speak English, but English has become the lingua-franca of the world. Business is conducted all over the world in English. English is the official language of air traffic controlers the world over. It is widely recognized that immigrants must learn English to integrate into the United States, and learning English will benefit them even if they return to their homeland. As a teacher in a public school, I see kids learning English. No, they don't learn it over night. Yes, in their initial years in the U.S. they feel more comfortable with those who speak their home language. Of course they do. They are in a strange place. But they learn English.

So here we are in 2006, trying to make English the official national language of the United States. For more than 200 years we have just let people figure out that English was the language to speak to get things done, to do business in this country. For more than 200 years we made no official, national moves, to intimidate anyone into learning English. We didn't officially rank English above anyone's native tongue on a national scale. So why now? My husband says racism. I can't come up with another answer that makes much sense.