If you want to be a citizen, or seek permanent residency, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio wants you to speak English first, according to a report in the Sun Sentinel. Rubio’s bipartisan immigration bill is being debated in the Senate this week.
Rubio, a Cuban-American fluent in both England and Spanish, inserted the English-language requirement in his own bill, bolstering the demand beyond a simple English lesson. If he gets his way, those pursuing residency must be proficient in English, just as those seeking citizenship.
Rubio’s last-minute additions have angered both the bill’s supporters and opponents. Jack Oliver, director of the Pompano Beach-based Floridians for Immigration Enforcement, see the requirement as a distraction from the main issue, which is to “flood the American job market with cheap foreign labor.”
A few welcome the condition as a step towards making English the official language in America, as it is in Florida. Advocacy group U.S. English, with 1.8 million members, including 108,184 Florida members, welcomed Rubio’s effort to strengthen the language requirement.
