Mr. Chairman. the immigrant experience is central to our national character. It epitomizes the Intergenerational improvement inherent in the American Dream. Americans by choice add to the cultural and ethnic diversity we have always celebrated. It Is Americas unique national trait that from such diversity springs unparalleled unity and strength of purpose. For nearly four centuries. natives of other lands have come to America to build a better future. But unlike their predecessors. todays immigrants are met with Government policies allegedly concerned with the preservation of their ethnic separateness. Chief among these misguided policies is the mandate of a multilingual government. By discouraging immigrants and their children from using the English language. this policy has erected a linguistic barrier that keeps many immigrants from becoming full participants in the society they have chosen to join. Whatever its putative intentions. a policy of governmental insistence on a multitude of official languages works insidiously to harm the very people it was meant to help. The use of English is indispensable to immigrants and their children who wish to participate fully in American society and realize the American Dream. As we seek to promote the rich and varied traditions new Americans bring. we must simultaneously work to ensure that all of us share some basis for common understanding. Securing both these important goals requires overcoming the divisive influence of linguistic separatism.
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