(Note: the Inhofe amendment was delayed until after the Memorial Day Recess.)

May 22, 2007

Dear Friend,

Senator Inhofe has announced he plans to offer his "English First" amendment to the immigration bill later today.

Please call your two Senators right away and ask them to vote for the Inhofe amendment.

Four reasons why the Inhofe amendment is necessary

(1) The immigration bill's English provision actually makes matters worse.

Read it for yourself:

Section 702 Declaration of English

(a) English is the common language of the United States.

(b) Preserving and Enhancing the Role of the English Language. The Government of the United States shall preserve and enhance the role of English as the language of the United States of America. Nothing herein shall diminish or expand any existing rights under the laws of the United States relative to services or materials provided by the Government of the United States in any language other than English.

(c) Definition: For the purposes of this section, law is defined as including provisions of the United States Constitution, the United States Code, controlling judicial decisions, regulations, and Presidential Executive Orders.

Section 702 claims to protect English but actually mandates multilingualism. A more concise version would read, "English is OK unless the government decides otherwise." And the government has often decided otherwise.

Second, this legislation would codify E.O. 13166 in far more permanent legislation. E.O. 13166 requires all recipients of federal funds to provide translation services into any language anyone speaks at any time.

Third, you may have heard politicians in both parties claim that anyone who gets amnesty must first learn English. The draft Senate bill requires no such thing.

The 12 million or more illegal aliens who are to be given the immediate gift of amnesty, thanks to the new Z visa, would be expected, sometime during the next four years, merely to "demonstrate an attempt to gain an understanding of the English language."

The Senate amnesty bill does ask that, after eight long years in the Z-visa program, illegal immigrants pass the naturalization test — after no more than three tries. If too many people should fail, there is always the 1996 Citizenship USA solution of dumbing down the test. Or allowing people take it in Spanish, thanks to E.O. 13166.

Fourth, the Senate's new amnesty/guest-worker bill would require the federal government to beg illegal aliens, in at least five languages, to accept amnesty:

q) Dissemination of Information on Z Program ... The Secretary shall disseminate information to employers and labor unions to advise them of the rights and protections available to them and to workers who file applications under this section. Such information shall be broadly disseminated, in no fewer than the top five principal languages, as determined by the Secretary in his discretion, spoken by aliens who would qualify for classification under this section, including to television, radio, and print media to which such aliens would have access.

Sincerely,

Jim Boulet, Jr.

Executive Director

English First

8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102

Springfield, VA 22151

(703) 321-8818 (voice)

http://www.englishfirst.org

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