25 Million For Immigrant Language Courses
By Pete Fisher (12/21/06)
Illinois thinks it can boost its economy by helping immigrants learn the language. To the tune of 25 million dollars, all shelled out by the by the taxpayer of course. The New Americans Advocacy Policy and Illinois Coalition for Immigrants and Refugee Rights believe we are short changing the economy by allowing these people to walk about without any English language skills.
25 million dollars to teach English to those who have come here without bothering to learn the language prior should be paid for by those learning the new skill, not the sweat of the tax payer. American history has shown that immigrants have not always mastered the language skills, but that never seemed to have been a barrier to prosperity until now.
Businesses have long sought to assist their workers with basic language skills because they believed it improved the quality of work and line of communications with their workers. And they paid for it. Why should Governor Blagojevich now set aside tax money to do the same thing? And can they prove that this money is going to LEGAL immigrants and not the illegal ones? Of all the immigrants here,25%, or just under 2 million are illegally.
With about 13% of the population of Illinois being immigrants, this is a major undertaking by the state to use my hard earned tax money to bring in more cheap labor to replace me down the line.
They want a welcoming center for immigrants to educate these people on all the state freebies to train low skilled immigrants in industries such as hospitality and health care. A veritable Ellis Island smack in the heart of Chicago to welcome and train low skill workers.
Wow. I have enough problems trying to find state funding for my daughters’ college and here is 25 million dollars being recommended to be set aside to help immigrants learn the language and welcome them into the state. The last time I drove downtown I was welcomed by one of the downtown Chicago infamous 4 hour parking meters that expire in 10 minutes. And when I sent the actual times into the courthouse and fought the ticket with data and a request for the calibration records, I was immediately refused and made to pay another 75 dollars. Had I know at the time that Illinois supports a Most favored Immigrant Treaty, I would have sent my dispute into them using broken English.
I spent 6 years in the military, yet when I moved here I had no welcoming center, nor did they pay for me to learn Midwestern English because my Texan accent made it hard for me to communicate with the locals. I have paid taxes for the past 30 years and never received so much as a city map or a free cookie for relocating to Illinois. Though the recommendation never actually says Hispanic immigrants, all anyone has to do is look at the numbers they speak of and match it with the ethnic groups in the state. The numbers strangely reflect the Hispanic population.
We have such a huge population of illegal immigrants in Illinois, to the extent that Waukegan is now jokingly called “Juankegan” and the local school taxes continue to rise as it is to be able to educate their children. And you guessed correctly; in Spanish speaking classes.
If I were Hispanic citizen at this time I would be highly offended for two reasons. First and foremost, it would embarrass me to no end to continually be lumped into the same mix as those who refuse to comply with our laws and customs. Secondly, since this nation began receiving immigrants, the Germans, Poles, Russians, Arabic, Jewish, Indian, and many others have never demanded we shell out dough to teach them how to speak English. Most of them refused to speak their native tongue, as did my grandparents, because as they said “You are in America now, and you WILL speak English”.
They demanded of their children what immigrants now demand of our society. They bring their children into the country without language skills. They do not demand their children speak English in the home. School systems have bent over backwards to teach classes in Spanish. All at a cost to the taxpayer with an additional slap in the American citizens face with a 25 million dollar initiative to teach them English.
If I were Hispanic I would be furious that my race was deemed too listless or stupid to be able to do what all the other cultures have done before. If any Hispanic person out there can explain to me why they cannot do what other cultures have done over the past 2 centuries, I would love to hear the explanation. And this goes for any other immigrant outside of the Hispanic arena.
Oh yes Governor, we do have a communication problem here in Illinois. But it has nothing to do with immigrant status. So please do not listen to the recommendations of those studies. Give me 25 million and I will teach them English myself. I can have them all sit in Grant Park on a Saturday and use a loudspeaker to tell them about all the wonderful English language. It will probably be a better way to learn than forking over some cookies and Kool-aid in a nice comfortable building.
Oh yes Governor, we do have a communication problem here in Illinois. But it has nothing to do with immigrant status.
We citizens are all speaking English, but you politicians are listening in Stupid.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Pete Fisher
