This is why you should careful for speaking another language in US

News24xx.com - There are two incidents involving Spanish speakers that happened in United States. The incidents raise the question about America’s official language.

Ana Suda and Mimi Hernandez, two US citizens, were approached by an officer because they were speaking Spanish in a predominantly English-speaking country. They were queuing inside a petrol station in rural Montana area when Border Patrol Agent approached them and asked to see their identification. When Suda accused the agent of profiling them due to their race, he assured her that that was not the reason.

“Ma’am, the reason I asked you for your ID is because I came in here, and I saw that you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here,” he replies, as cited from BBC.

This incident was caught on video, which happened on May 16th. The two women were detained for a while before being allowed to go. Suda said, the incident made her feel uncomfortable speaking her own language.

Days later, another similar incident, caught in a video, happened in New York City. A lawyer threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency responsible for deportation in US, toward restaurant staffs who had been speaking in Spanish to each other.

“They should be speaking English. My next call is to ICE to have each one of them kicked out of my country,” he said, as cited from BBC.

While US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has nondiscrimination policy, it remains vague about language. CBP said they were reviewing the Montana incident. They said, multiple factors, if put together is enough to raise suspicion on illegal alienage.

The Policy Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, Chris Rickerd, condemned the agent’s action in Montana incident, saying that they were being racially unfair and justified unequal treatment based on race and ethnicity. He said that the agent ignored the women’s right when he detained them just for speaking Spanish.

“Border Patrol leadership must immediately and clearly condemn demanding from anyone for speaking Spanish,” Rickerd said, as cited from BBC.

There are around 41 million native Spanish speakers in US, which makes up 13% of the population. There are also nearly 12 million bilingual speakers of both Spanish and English. This makes US the second largest Spanish speaking country, even more than Spain itself.

English is the language used for government business and some everyday lives aspects in United States. While some states have made it their official language, it is not the case for federal policy. Until now, US senators still have not succeeded in making English America’s official language.

It is still a debate, what language Americans should use. Especially now that migrants keep coming into the country and the states become more and more multilingual.

 

 

 

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