Three stories on language and immigration

Language is one of the key intersections between immigration and integration. As I tell my immigration law students, one of the few stereotypes of immigrants that is frequently true is that they come from somewhere else and speak another language. Three stories on language and immigration from the week:

• Former VP and Presidential Candidate Joe Biden faced criticism for saying that undocumented immigrants should learn English before they can become citizens. The comments were made in a speech to supporters (Biden states, “like every other person who’s come here, they have to pass, they have to learn how to speak English, they have to demonstrate they pay their taxes…But it’s a pathway.”). But his 2020 immigration platform does not make speaking English a requirement for accessing a pathway to citizenship, merely that those who want to learn English would have access to language education. Naturalization requires an oral interview that demonstrates English proficiency, with exceptions and adjusted levels of proficiency required for those of senior age , a point made by a Biden spokesperson in a statement responding to media coverage of Biden’s speech.
• A New Yorker report that asylum-seekers at the US-Mexico border who speaking indigenous languages face a translation crisis at the border. The migrants featured in the story come from Guatemala and speak a Mayan language called Mam. Many speak little or no Spanish. For context: at least half of 250,000 migrants from Guatemala who arrivedin the Bay Area last year are Mayans. According to the Department of Justice, Mam was the ninth most common language used in immigration courts last year, more common than French, and three Mayan languages made the top 25 most spoken languages in immigration court.
• A human feature story in the NY Times reveals a remarkable apartment building in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York that is home to speakers of Seke. Seke is a rare language only spoken by 700 people in the world, including 100 in New York City (almost half of whom live in the building). It is a testament to the cohesion of the Seke-speaking community and the diversity of New York City.

MHC