No one forced my immigrant grandparents to speak English. They managed and had a small business. My parents managed. Eureka, a doctor and lawyer! And, holy of holies: We all speak English as a first language, not the language of Latvia.

Study after study indicates that immigrants do learn English. This whole issue is a red herring perpetrated by bigots.

In a colorblind society where merit should hold ultimate sway, OBAMA isn't even qualified to be assistant majority whip. He's missed a 1/3 of his votes during the 2005-2006 session, and he hasn't held a hearing as member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His policies are also awful for the nation. He believes in granting drivers licenses to illegals, he wants to ease burdens on employers when it comes to checking the status of workers, he wants to raise taxes on the middle class by trillions of dollars by eliminating the cap on social security contributions, he fails to protect our troops from the iranian revolutionary guard and then attacks his opponents for doing so EVEN WHEN HE MISSED THE VOTE, he was the only person to vote "present" instead of yes or no on bills banning adult shops near schools, and sealing court records of victims of sexual assault.

Obama is little substance, all hype. The key to his success: a freshness, a lack of record to run on, the constant repetition of simple feel-good platitudes that lull listeners into a sense of trust and induce in them a yearning to believe. No wonder Barack Obama is so popular among denizens of Hollywood like Oprah: they certainly have an eye for those who can create an image, can generate a buzz that compels others to suspend their disbelief, and who can induce a trance-like stargazing. But the fact is that Barack Obama does have a record to run on and its a record of vote dodging and triangulation. Barack Obama talks about the audacity of hope... but how about the audacity to show up and vote.. and not criticize others over resolutions you conveniently missed while campaigning

I agree. I'm a 4th generation of Czech ancestory and all of us kids learned Czech before we learned English. My folks knew the importance of us all knowing English to get ahead in US society. But we also knew Czech to carry on our heritage.

Before forcing immigrants to learn English shouldn't you make English the official language?

Immigrants do learn English. But with few accessible resources to aid the process, most are more comfortable with their native tongue. I'm sure if ESL programs were more accessible, we'd see the numbers of immigrants who know and use English skyrocket.

But I don't think there's anything wrong with adding culture to the US by speaking in another language. In a world where most other countries are bi- and tri- lingual, we should give learning a new language a whirl.

I am speaking as an educator, I teach middle school. I work in a lower socio-economic neighborhood, where English is not the primary language. Our students struggle in all disciplines as they have difficulty with the English language. One of the reasons some of the students feel it is not a necessity to learn English is that they can survive without learning the English language. We have a proliferation of foreign language billboards, signs, etc., that in my opinion, promote illiteracy of the English language. Why try to learn a difficult language if you can get by using your home language? Yes, parents want better for their children, but when they are working two to three jobs in order to keep a roof over the family's head and food on the table, education does not always take a priority. Making English the national language should take a priority, it does not take away ethnic pride, nor should it. If we want a well educated society, this should be the first step. As it is now, we throw more money at the low performing schools, and see little results. Low performing schools are primarily in lower socio-economic areas; I do not believe I am the only one seeing the correlation between the lack of the use of English and lack of academic progress.
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Having worked with immigrants for more than forty years I have found the immigrant population may acquire some English but generally remains most comfortable with its native language, the next generation is bilingual, and the grandchildren may understand but generally are not fluent speakers. The experiences cited by Charles and Roy above are being repeated by Spanish-speaking immigrants right now. Much of the fuss about speaking English comes from our inability and laziness in identifying the difference between a Hispanic surnamed individual who arrived last month and one who is 4th generation. So of course we make erroneous generalizations. so does Joe Biden.

Being 2nd generation Greek- American, I can tell you that I see zero correlation between my families, included many who shared that boat ride & the current "southern border" immigrant issues. We speak perfect English because we were not allowed to speak Greek. "We're American now, we speak the English". Period. It saddens me that learning Greek is so difficult in my later years, but we became a part of this great English speaking country they traveled so far for. My family never took to the streets waving Greek flags, shouting about "our rights" & DEMANDING social services. The "studies" referred to that by the 3rd generation we'd all be American is right. As it USED to be. How can immigrants become part of our great tapestry of Ethnics when they refuse to budge from "their" native language? By the way..... how many of you who bash this statement, have checked what the Mexican goverment says about becoming a citizen there? You must be FLUENT in Spanish. Not willing & attempting to learn. Fluent....Never in my 50+ years have I heard so much insanity. Why would you bash an honorable man for suggesting that current immigrants do what all immigrants have always done to join & share in the glory of this country? My country! America. "we are Americans now, we speak the English". Thank you Yaya & Papou!

How insulting that Biden considers ILLEGAL ALIENS to be "immigrants."

Legal immigrants already have to learn to speak English.

I don't think a "Tancredo Republican" is going to vote for the CFR candidate Romney (CFR believes in eliminating borders) before Ron Paul or if she is she is very ignorant. Amazing the lengths the media is going to to try to play down the Ron Paul Revolution.

As an Iowan we have seen a great increase in the Hispanic population,legal and not.Many don't bother to learn english because they simply don't have to.They can find someone who knows enough to get by and that's all that matters.If they want to live hear, english needs to be spoken.

Just look at all the countries that have many different tribes living in them, and each tribe speaks a different language. Those countries are never at peace, with each tribe fighting the other. One of the things that keeps this country great is that we are United. If we start speaking many different languages what will happen to that unity? When we can't understand each other because of a speech barrier there is too much room for misunderstanding. When you make an effort to learn the language spoken in the country you are living in, you are making an effort to become apart of that great country. You are also opening doors for yourself. Doors leading to better employment etc. If you don't want to learn the language of this country then don't come here.