Thread: Immigration news: Russian is third most common language in Oregon

Immigration news: Russian is third most common language in Oregon; local govs hack reform


Vitali Bobrisev is a 74-year-old immigrant from Moldova. Like many Russian-speaking immigrants he lives in a tight-knit community in East Portland. Here, he laughs with friends at a volunteer event to clean up a local garden where he grows his own produce. (Melissa Binder/The Oregonian)

By Andrea Castillo | acastillo@oregonian.com
on May 20, 2014 at 7:30 AM

IMMIGRATION NEWS

• Immigration news: Russian is third most common language in Oregon; local govs hack reform
• Immigration news: Driver card supporters collect $10K; organizations train immigrant entrepreneurs
• Undocumented immigrants, activists protest peacefully at Washington County Sheriff's Office
• Oregon Supreme Court declines to review Del Monte Fresh Produce verdict
• Obama administration says schools can't shut out undocumented students; no changes in Oregon

All Stories |

Good morning, readers. There wasn't not much local immigration news last week, but here's what I've been reading:

Regional

Common language: Russian is the most commonly spoken language, behind English and Spanish, in Oregon -- the only state where Russian is so popular. The Oregonian

More than 50 victims who were bilked out of nearly a half-million dollars saw the start of justice Tuesday when Celia Perez was sentenced to federal prison.

Immigration fraud: A federal judge in Idaho sentenced Celia Perez, 40, to five years and 10 months in prison on two counts of federal mail fraud. Perez posed as an immigration attorney handling difficult cases, and scammed more than 50 people out of nearly a half-million dollars. The Times-News

ICE holds: Seventeen counties in Washington have changed their policy regarding ICE detainers so far. King 5 News
RELATED: How Local Governments Are Hacking Immigration Reform The Atlantic

National
Emergency shelter: Border authorities in South Texas have been overwhelmed by a surge of young, unaccompanied illegal migrants, prompting the Department of Homeland Security to declare a crisis last week and move to set up an emergency shelter for the youths in San Antonio. New York Times

Military enlistment: A top U.S. Department of Defense official said Monday that President Barack Obama's administration might allow young immigrants living in the country illegally to enlist in the military. Chicago Public Media

Picking tobacco: Children younger than 18 can't buy cigarettes in the U.S., but can legally work in tobacco fields starting at age 12. A new report from Human Rights Watch says the practice is hazardous and needs to be stopped. NPR

--Andrea Castillo

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-no...ian_is_th.html

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/maps-here-b...-state-303083/

Good morning, readers. There wasn't not much local immigration news last week, but here's what I've been reading:

Something tells me English might not be this person's first language.

Russian[edit]

Main article: Russian language in the United States

Russian language distribution in the United States.

The Russian language is frequently spoken in areas of Alaska, Los Angeles, Seattle, Spokane, Miami, San Francisco, New York City,Philadelphia, Woodburn, Oregon, and Chicago.

The Russian-American Company used to own Alaska Territory until selling it after the Crimean War. Russian had always been limited, especially after the assassination of the Romanov dynasty of tsars.

Starting in the 1970s and continuing until the mid-1990s, many people from the Soviet Union and later its constituent republics such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, andUzbekistan have immigrated to the United States, increasing the language's usage in America.

The largest Russian-speaking neighborhoods in the United States are found in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island in New York City (specifically the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn), parts of Los Angeles, particularly West Los Angeles and West Hollywood, parts of Philadelphia, particularly the Far Northeastand, parts of Miami like Sunny Isles Beach.

Slavic Voice of America media group serves Russian-speaking Americans out of Dallas, TX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag..._United_States

Census statistics[edit]

Language Spoken at Home (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2009)[13]
List	[show]

According to the American Community Survey 2009, endorsed by the United States Census Bureau, the main languages by number of speakers older than five are:

1. English – 229 million
2. Spanish – 35 million
3. Chinese languages – 2.6 million + (mostly speakers of Yue dialects such as Taishanese andCantonese, with a growing group of Mandarin speakers)
4. Tagalog – 1.5 million + (Most Filipinos may also know other Philippine languages, e.g. Ilokano,Pangasinan, Bikol languages, and Visayan languages.)
5. French – 1.3 million
6. Vietnamese – 1.3 million
7. German – 1.1 million (High German) + German dialects like Pennsylvania German, Hutterite German, Plautdietsch, Texas German
8. Korean – 1.0 million
9. Russian – 881,000
10. Arabic – 845,000
11. Italian – 754,000
12. Portuguese – 731,000
13. French Creole – 659,000
14. Polish – 594,000
15. Hindi – 561,000
16. Japanese – 445,000
17. Persian – 397,000
18. Urdu – 356,000
19. Gujarati – 341,000
20. Greek – 326,000
21. Serbo-Croatian – 269,000
22. Armenian – 243,000
23. Hebrew – 222,000
24. Cambodian – 202,000

Additionally, modern estimates indicate that American Sign Language is signed by as many as 500,000 Americans.^[14]

The total sample size for these figures is 286 million people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag..._United_States

Official language status[edit]

The United States does not have a national official language; nevertheless, English (specificallyAmerican English) is the primary language used for legislation, regulations, executive orders, treaties, federal court rulings, and all other official pronouncements; although there are laws requiring documents such as ballots to be printed in multiple languages when there are large numbers of non-English speakers in an area.

As part of what has been called the English-only movement, some states have adopted legislation granting official status to English. As of January 2014, out of 50 states, 28 had established English as the official language, and Hawaii had established both English and Hawaiian as official.

Place	Englishofficial	Other official language(s)	Note	Ref
Alabama	Yes	No	since 1990	[15]
Alaska	No	No	since 2007; 1998 law ruled unconstitutional;	[16]
Arizona	Yes	No	since 2006; 1988 law ruled unconstitutional	[17]
Arkansas	Yes	No	since 1987	[15]
California	Yes	No	since 1986	[15]
Colorado	Yes	No	since 1988	[15]
Connecticut	No	No		[15]
Delaware	No	No		[15]
Florida	Yes	No	since 1988	[15]
Georgia	Yes	No	since 1996	[15]
Hawaii	Yes	Hawaiian	since 1978	[15]
Idaho	Yes	No	since 2007	[15]
Illinois	Yes	No	since 1969; "American" official 1923-1969	[15]
Indiana	Yes	No	since 1984	[15]
Iowa	Yes	No	since 2002	[15]
Kansas	Yes	No	since 2007	[15]
Kentucky	Yes	No	since 1984	[15]
Louisiana	No	No	French has had special status since 1968 founding of CODOFIL.	[15]
Maine	No	No		[15]
Maryland	No	No		[15]
Massachusetts	No	No		[15]
Michigan	No	No		[15]
Minnesota	No	No		[15]
Mississippi	Yes	No	since 1987	[15]
Missouri	No	No		[15]
Montana	Yes	No	since 1995	[15]
Nebraska	Yes	No	since 1923	[15]
Nevada	No	No		[15]
New Hampshire	Yes	No	since 1995	[15]
New Jersey	No	No		[15]
New Mexico	No	No	Spanish has had special status since 1912 passage of state constitution.	see article
New York	No	No		[15]
North Carolina	Yes	No	since 1987	[15]
North Dakota	Yes	No	since 1987	[15]
Ohio	No	No		[15]
Oklahoma	Yes	No	since 2010	[18]
Oregon	No	No	English Plus since 1989	[15]
Pennsylvania	No	No		[15]
Rhode Island	No	No	English Plus since 1992	[15]
South Carolina	Yes	No	since 1987	[15]
South Dakota	Yes	No	since 1995	[15]
Tennessee	Yes	No	since 1984	[15]
Texas	No	No		[15]
Utah	Yes	No	since 2000	[15]
Vermont	No	No		[15]
Virginia	Yes	No	since 1981	[15]
Washington	No	No	English Plus since 1989	[15]
West Virginia	No	No		[15]
Wisconsin	No	No		[15]
Wyoming	Yes	No	since 1996	[15]
American Samoa	Yes	Samoan		[19]
District of Columbia	No	No		[citation needed]
Guam	Yes	Chamorro		[citation needed]
Northern Mariana Islands	Yes	Chamorro, Carolinian		[citation needed]
Puerto Rico	Yes	Spanish		[20]
U.S. Virgin Islands	Yes	No		[21]

States that are de facto bilingual[edit]

• Louisiana (English and French legally recognized, although there is no official language) (1974)
• Maine (English and French both de facto)
• New Mexico (English and Spanish both de facto)^[22]
• Texas (English and Spanish are both de facto)

Status of other languages[edit]

The state of Alaska provides voting information in Iñupiaq, Central Yup'ik, Gwich'in, Siberian Yupik,Koyukon, and Tagalog, as well as English.

California has agreed to allow the publication of state documents in other languages to represent minority groups and immigrant communities. Languages such as Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog,Persian, Russian, Vietnamese, and Thai appear in official state documents, and the Department of Motor Vehicles publishes in 9 languages.^[23]

In New Mexico, although the state constitution does not specify an official language, laws are published in English and Spanish, and government materials and services are legally required (by Act) to be made accessible to speakers of both languages.^[24]

Percentage of people 5 years and over who speak Spanish at home: 2008.

Second most prevalent language in each US state.
Spanish
French
German
Tagalog

Contrary to belief, the state of Pennsylvania was never officially bilingual. The state has a history ofPennsylvania Dutch German language communities that goes back to the 1650s. There were attempts to recognize German in Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries due to the prevalence of German speakers in the state. This situation prevailed until the 1950s in some rural areas.^{[citation needed]}
The state of New York had state government documents (i.e., vital records) co-written in the Dutch language until the 1920s, in order to preserve the legacy of New Netherland, though England annexed the colony in 1664.^{[citation needed]}

Native American languages are official or co-official on many of the U.S. Indian reservations and pueblos. In Oklahoma before statehood in 1907, territory officials debated whether or not to have Cherokee,Choctaw and Muscogee languages as co-official, but the idea never gained ground.

The issue of bilingualism also applies in the states ofArizona and Texas, while the constitution of Texas has no official language policy.

Arizona passed a proposition in the November 7, 2006 general electiondeclaring English as the official language.^[25]Nonetheless, Arizona law requires the distribution of voting ballots in languages such as Navajo and Tohono O'odham in certain counties.^[26]

In 2000, the census bureau printed the standard census questionnaires in six languages: English,Spanish, Korean, Chinese (in traditional characters), Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag..._United_States

French language distribution in the United States. Counties and parishes marked in yellow are those where 6% to 12% of the population speak French at home; brown, 12% to 18%; red, over 18%. Cajun French and French-based creole languages are not included even though the Creole dialects are spoken throughout the U.S. and taught in many U.S. schools.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag..._United_States

German language distribution in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag..._United_States

Dutch language distribution in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag..._United_States

Spread of the Vietnamese language in the United States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag..._United_States