English-Only Laws Don't Work, and Bush Knows It

LOS ANGELES--In September 1999, then-Texas Gov. George Bush told an audience during the New Hampshire presidential primary, "English-only would mean to people, 'Me, not you.'" The few times during his White House tenure Bush has seen moves to restrict the use of non-English languages by government agencies, the president didn't budge from that position.

However, when House and Senate Republicans pounded Bush recently for championing a non-punitive immigration reform measure he slightly backpedaled, supporting the Senate's tough English-only amendment and a competing amendment that simply touts English. The Senate's English-only amendments are at best empty symbolism, and at worst, a xenophobic, race-tinged tact that could imperil programs that genuinely help non-English students and adults attain English proficiency.

Bush knows that. As Texas governor, he enthusiastically backed bilingual education, and for a good reason. It is the quickest path for non-English speaking immigrants to assimilate and ultimately attain citizenship.

If Congress's English-only amendment stands it would undermine that effort. But it wouldn't be the first time that a shortsighted Congress shot itself in the foot on the issue. In 1996, the House passed an English-only bill. The following year, Arizona Sen. John McCain proposed a "non-binding" Senate resolution endorsing English plus. The House has proposed amendments and even legislation over the years to dump or severely curtail funding for bilingual education.

The English-only drive got a rocket boost in 1998 when businessman Ron Unz dumped millions into the campaign to pass Proposition 227 in California. The initiative's premise was simple: bilingual education was costly, wasteful and ineffectual, and non-English speaking students, mainly Hispanics, didn't learn a lick of English in bilingual classes. Some charged that the programs were a sneaky way to promote multiculturalism.

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