PUL – Rights of Women
WHY immigrants don’t want to LEARN ENGLISH? well that’s wrong, they do!! right?
Within ten years of arrival, more than 75% of immigrants speak English well; moreover, demand for English classes at the adult level far exceeds supply. Greater than 33% of immigrants are naturalized citizens; given increased immigration in the 1990s, this figure will rise as more legal permanent residents become eligible for naturalization in the coming years. The number of immigrants naturalizing spiked sharply after two events: enactment of immigration and welfare reform laws in 1996, and the terrorist attacks in 2001.
(Source: American Immigration Lawyers Association, “Myths & Facts in the Immigration Debate”, 8/14/03. http://www.aila.org/contentViewer.aspx?bc=17,142#section4)
(Source: Simon Romero and Janet Elder, “Hispanics in the US Report Optimism” New York Times, (Aug. 6, 2003).
I think that most do, but it is hard. Most come to work hard and then send money home until they have built their homes and can go back, when that happens they are working 60 hour weeks and it is hard to find the time to go to an English class. But some do anyway.
5th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference – Pt 6
