NC - Board to discuss anti-illegal immigration measure tonig

[Dixie]

March 13. 2007 1:00PM

Board to discuss anti-illegal immigration measure tonight

From staff reports

The Davidson County Board of Commissioners will discuss the possibility of modifying its standard work contract tonight to ensure none of its contractors employ undocumented workers to complete jobs with the county.

Under new language that would be inserted into all county contracts, contractors considered for county jobs will be required to verify their workers are legally qualified to work in the United States.

The measure, aimed at combating illegal immigration on the county level, stems from a suggestion in Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory's Immigration Study Commission. Commissioners' chairman Fred McClure raised the issue at the board's February retreat. The commissioners may opt to take no action at the meeting.

Since the item is not a public hearing, those attending the meeting will not be able to weigh in during the board's deliberation but will be allowed to address the commissioners during the allotted public address time at the beginning of the meeting.

The commissioners will meet at 7 p.m. on the fourth floor of the county governmental center on North Main Street in Lexington.

http://www.the-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 006/NEWS01

[Dixie]

Previously Passed Ordinance

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The Language Question
English is declared official language in Davidson

By Michael Hewlett


LEXINGTON - The politician was worried that too many of his neighbors didn't speak English, a barrier, in his mind, to the co-hesiveness of America. The year: 1753. The politician: Benjamin Franklin. The other language: German.

Debates about language, American identity and immigration are older than the United States itself. And the debate was no different last night when Davidson County commissioners waded into the issue and unanimously approved a resolution making English the official language of county government.

Commissioner Larry Allen said he had heard from about 20 to 30 residents who told him that they were tired of immigrants not being able to speak English. He said many people have lost faith that the state and federal government will do anything about the issue, and they look to their county elected officials to take a stand.

Adopting English as an official language, the resolution says, "enhances unity, both locally and nationally, and honors our ancestors from all lands who learned English and immigrants today who continue that tradition."

The resolution is largely symbolic. In 1987, North Carolina declared English the official language. And the Davidson resolution would not change how the county conducts business.

County Manager Robert Hyatt said that state and federal law does mandate that some services, offered by social-services and public health, be provided to people regardless of whether they speak English, and the resolution will have no effect on those requirements.

But supporters argue that making English the official language sends a message to immigrants that they must learn the language if they truly want to become Americans.

State Republicans have made it a goal to make that message even clearer with plans to introduce legislation next year to make English the official language of government business.

Mint Hill, in Mecklenburg County, and Landis, a town in Rowan County, have considered proposals to make English the official language.

This week, Farmers Branch, Texas, made the news by passing strict anti-immigration measures, including one making English the city's official language.

Some people see a sinister meaning behind such resolutions.

"It's just a gratuitous statement of intolerance," said James Crawford, the president of the Institute for Language and Education Policy in Silver Spring, Md.

Crawford said that Americans have more often considered language as a practical issue, rather than a symbolic one. Some states, as a matter of public policy, had certain governmental documents translated into German, French and other languages, because there was a significant number of people who spoke languages other than English, he said.

Measures such as the one Davidson County commissioners considered last night come up during times of anxiety and uncertainty about immigration, Crawford said.

"Unfortunately, these measures have been used to exploit anti-immigrant sentiment and fan the flames of ethnic conflict," he said.

In the 1980s, the modern movement to establish English as the official language gained strength, he said. That happened as a result of changes in immigration laws in the 1960s that eliminated restrictions on people from non-European countries. More immigrants from Latin America and Asia began coming to the United States.

And that scared some Americans, Crawford said.

"What we're seeing is a reaction to diversity from people who grew up in a time when we weren't that diverse," he said. "It's a reaction out of fear and anxiety of a foreigner."

But proponents of such measures say that's not the case at all.

"We have lost a grip on assimilation," said Rob Toonkel, the director of communications for U.S. English Inc., a group based in Washington that is pushing to make English the official language of the United States. "We're not sending the same assimilation message as we have been in the past."

Having a resolution such as the one Davidson County approved last night sends the right message to immigrants: Learning English is important, Toonkel said.

"When the government endorses a policy, a lot of people look up to that and say, 'You know what, I think that's a good idea.'"

Ben Ross, the president and chief executive of Davidson Vision, said he had not read the resolution but agreed with the basic sentiment behind it.

"The thing I think people perceive sometimes is that we should have things printed or instructions in multiple languages for all of the immigrants that come to this country," Ross said.

The majority of immigrants do want to learn English, Ross said, but it isn't easy, especially when some immigrants can't read in their own language. And some immigrants go to English-as-a-Second-Language classes only once or twice a week, Ross said.

"It's very difficult to learn a language in one- to two-hour spurts once or twice a week," he said. "Perhaps, some of the folks trying to learn the language may lose hope and became discouraged and don't stick with it."

Melissa Stroupe, 23, of Midway says she is for the resolution because of her experiences at work training those who don't speak English.

"I have actually done a lot of work around here where I've had to train a lot of people who are not bilingual, and it puts up a very big barrier, a communication barrier," Stroupe said. "And, of course, the more communication, the more teamwork, the more things go more efficient, period."

But Rocky Norris, 33, of Boone, who was visiting his mother in Thomasville yesterday, says he disagrees with the resolution. "I think everyone has a right and entitlement to live here," he said. "I think that every one who comes here has an entitlement to understand what's going on.

"The English were definitely not the first settlers in the United States," Norris said.

• Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.

• Journal reporter Lisa Boone contributed to this report.

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