Dear Congressman Coble:

I have just recently read about a resolution introduced several months ago by Congressman Serrano. I hope it's not too late for me to take a stand on this resolution because this, in my view, is an issue of tremendous importance to our country. It is an issue that has gotten completely out of control.

I have been distressed to hear stories of school teachers actually being FORCED to take, at their own expense, Spanish classes or risk losing their jobs. Every service company I call makes me go through choosing either English or Spanish. North Carolina and the United States are spending ENORMOUS amounts of money making sure signs and documents related in any way to the government be available both in English and Spanish. BALLOTS are made available in Spanish.

I would like to know when America became a bilingual country??? The English-Plus legislation will destroy our common National Language. We have an historical language and culture and I, for one, am sick of seeing those destroyed by people who come to our country--MOST of them ILLEGALLY--and DEMAND that we accomodate them by providing every service in SPANISH. It is high time our representatives stood up for us and put a screeching halt to this invasion.

One can argue that America IS a nation of immigrants. My argument is that America is a nation of immigrants who came here LEGALLY and ASSIMILATED into our culture. It they don't like OUR language or OUR culture, they are welcome to go back from whence they came.

Please take a stand on this issue if it has not already passed and I would LOVE to see you introduce legislation that would settle the argument for once and for all--make English our OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. I can promise you, if you would sponsor such legislation, you would have a TREMENDOUS response from your constituents AND from people around the country who have had it up to the GILLS with this invasion from South of the Border.

I am also against all of the plans so far proposed by the President, McCain/Kennedy and Cornyn/Kyle. Tom Tancredo's bill makes the most sense and seems to address every facet of the problem. I would like to see you consider co-sponsoring that bill if possible.

North Carolina is sinking FAST. We are being taken over by illegals and most of them are Hispanic. Our prisons are full of them. Our schools can't function because there is no way a teacher can teach OUR children when half of the class doesn't even speak English. I just recently heard from a friend who used to teach in Winston-Salem that one of her co-workers still at Easton Elementary has 22 children in her class this year. Of those 22, only ELEVEN speak English. This is an abomination. These children shouldn't even see the inside of any of our schools unless and until they had attended a school that taught ESL and they had MASTERED our language. This is punishing OUR children because a teacher cannot possibly devote the necessary time to teach what is required of our children if so much time is having to be spent dealing with children who don't even understand our language. Is it not enough that we are educating these illegal immigrants' children for FREE? Do we have to sacrifice our own children's education at their expense?

I am pleading with you to take a TOUGH stand on enforcement of existing immigration laws before any new legislation is proposed or, most especially, any GUESTWORKER program is addressed. We need to purge the country of the lawbreakers first and, then, we can deal with whether there is a REAL need for a guestworker program. It is MY opinion that, if these jobs that "they" keep claiming Americans won't take, paid a decent wage, there would be no job openings for guestworkers.

I am also against increasing the number of H 1-B visas or ANY visas for that matter until every American who WANTS a job has one. This is a sorry excuse for a reason for revising the budget in the Senate if I've ever heard one. It truly seems that the people we have elected to represent us have opted to send as many jobs out of the country as they could possibly dream up and the jobs that are left are going to be given to people from other countries that they bring in to do them. THIS IS A TRAVESTY.

I am so pleased that you voted AGAINST CAFTA because it gives me some reassurance that you really do see what all of these "free trade" agreements have wrought.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Margaret Koonts