Boca Raton resident seeks to make English official language
Boca Raton resident heads group behind official English movement
By Tal Abbady

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

October 8, 2007


Mauro Mujica says he knows firsthand the trials of being a new immigrant in the United States.

Born in Chile and educated at Columbia University, he once hired speech therapists to get rid of his accent and faced discrimination as a young architect in Washington, D.C.

But Mujica, 66, sees no contradiction between that past struggle and his role as chairman and CEO of U.S. English, the group behind the official English movement that some critics say discriminates against immigrants.

For Mujica, head of U.S. English since 1993, the group's message to newcomers is a no-brainer.

"If you come to this country you should learn the language of this country," said Mujica, who lives in Washington and spends weekends in Boca Raton, where he owns a home.

Since it was founded in 1983, U.S. English has lobbied Congress to pass legislation declaring English the official language of the United States and of all government business. The D.C.-based group consists of two tax-exempt groups. U.S. English Foundation devotes itself to language research and has a center in Slovakia.

U.S. English Inc. is a grass roots lobbying group that has helped pass official language laws in 30 states, including Florida in 1988. The group opposes bilingual education and government-funded translation services for most purposes, but not public health notices, judicial proceedings and other exceptions where equal access is guaranteed by law.

In Mujica's view, immigrants often isolate themselves in linguistic enclaves like those that dot South Florida and need help joining the mainstream.

"We're not doing enough to help immigrants assimilate," said Mujica, who became a U.S. citizen in 1970. "Whether they're here legally or illegally, once the government lets them in, it's responsible to help them learn English," he said.

Mujica says the government should invest in English-acquisition programs modeled after Israel's ulpans, intensive Hebrew language programs funded by the government for immigrants.

Fluent in five languages, he rejects accusations he's an English-only advocate. His three grown children spoke Spanish and English at home.

But Mujica sees the lack of a federal, official language law as a recipe for multilingual chaos and criticizes public institutions, such as schools, for pandering to immigrant groups.

"It's crazy. Right now, anybody can demand anything they want because there is no official language," he said. "Are we going to start putting up road signs in foreign languages? We can give someone a driver's license in Chinese but what good will it do if the road signs are in English?"

Mujica has denounced major Spanish-language initiatives, such as the Univision network's announcement over the summer that it would broadcast the first presidential debates in Spanish. In a public statement before the Democratic debate aired Sept. 9, he said Univision's move follows a national trend of "asking government and government officials to learn the language of immigrants rather than asking immigrants to learn the language of our country."

Critics say the official English movement is a thinly veiled attempt to impose a standardized culture.

"It's a profoundly misplaced and damaging movement. It's used to punish principally Latinos," said Juan F. Perea, a professor of law at the University of Florida in Gainesville who has written extensively about official English movements in American history. "It's like saying you can only be an American in this one way: the English-speaking, white, Anglo way of being an American."

For centuries, other languages have thrived in the United States and never threatened the dominance of English, Perea said. He referred to bilingual schools in Pennsylvania that accommodated the state's large German-speaking population in the 17th and 18th centuries. Most immigrant groups, from Germans and Italians to Russian Jews and Cubans, Perea said, faced accusations they weren't assimilable and yet assimilated successfully.

"It's nonsense," Perea said of official English. "Any immigrant who's here knows that acquiring English is essential. Assimilation happens no matter what. What's the problem? Where's the crisis?"

According to Mujica, 40 percent of U.S. English's 2 million members are Hispanic. The group depends on dues and contributions. A 2005 tax return shows it raised almost $5 million.

As an immigrant, Mujica says he's the ideal champion of official English.

Born in Antofagasta, Chile, he moved to the United States in 1964 and eventually headed an international architectural firm. Clients initially doubted his merits because of his accent.

"I'm aware of what these guys have to do to survive," said Mujica, referring to new immigrants. But he takes pains to distinguish himself, an educated man from an affluent background, from many of today's newcomers. He emphasizes his Dutch, Italian and Basque roots.

"The kinds of immigrants we're getting today who are crossing the border on foot are not the immigrants from 100 years ago who were poor but literate," he said. "I'm struck when I hear people say they're going to lose their culture by learning English. They're going to gain culture."

Taking offense at labels, Mujica says he is neither a conservative nor a Hispanic.

"I consider myself an American, period," he said.


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