And we have a few things that unite us: our common history. the principles of our founding documents. and our common language. If we should lose that. we would be a United Nations. not the United States of America. This is important because this is the emotion which underlies most of the immigration debate we are having. The concern among many Americans. other than the rule of law which has to do with securing the border. is to make sure that those who come to our country become Americans. And we do not do that by race. we do not do that by ethnicity. we do not do that by what country an immigrant comes from. we do it by a few simple uniting ideas: our founding documents. our common history. and our common language. This has been true for a long time in our country. When a legal immigrant comes to the United Statesand this has been the law for 100 yearsand he or she applies to become a citizen. he or she must. by law. demonstrate an eighth grade level of understanding of the English language. It was 150 years ago we founded common schools. We call them public schools today. Albert Shanker. the former head of the American Federation of Teachers. said the reason for the common school was so we could teach mostly immigrant children to read and write In English. to do math. and what It means to become an American. with the hope they would go home and teach their parents. We have always known it is important as Americans to have a common language because that is how we can communicate with one another. Immigrants to our country understand this. That is why they come here. They want to be part of our country that shares the values of liberty and equal opportunity. They want to contribute to our history of striving toward those values. They want to learn our common language. and usually do. as evidenced by long waiting lists for a number of English as a second language adult education courses across our country. That is why this Senate. just a few weeks ago. passed an amendment to the immigration bill by a vote of 91 to 1 to help legal immigrants learn English and to allow those who become fluent in English to become American citizens 1 year faster. We value our common language. It isnt an argument that is hard to understand.
Identified stereotypes
Immigrants want to be part of our country that shares the values of liberty and equal opportunity. They want to contribute to our history of striving toward those values. They want to learn our common language, and usually do.