Last April. I introduced S. 2412. the Bilingual Education Improvement Act. which will make federally funded bilingual education programs more responsive to the needs of local school districts. A monthandahalf ago this distinguished body passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1982. which legalizes the presence of most aliens now illegally in the United States. Attached to that bill is an amendment I introduced which states it is the sense of the Senate that English be the official language of the United States. Our immigration laws already require English for citizenship. How do we insure that those immigrants who are unable to speak English. grasp our language. It is the role of bilingual education to equip immigrants with the necessary English language skills to qualify them for the requirement of citizenship. The problem is that all too often. bilingual education programs have strayed from their original intent of teaching English. A related issue is the full scale of interpretation for the term "bilingual education".
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