The Education Requirement of the U.S. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: A Case Study of Ineffective Language Planning  

Oleh:

Huss, Susan

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Language Problems and Language Planning vol. 14 no. 2 (1990), page 142-161.

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan PKBB Nomor Panggil: 405/LPL/14 Non-tandon: tidak ada Tandon: 1

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Isi artikel

On 6 November 1986 President Ronald Reagan signed the U.S. Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 into law. The purpose of the law is to halt the flow of illegal immigrants across the U.S. border with Mexico and to enforce sanctions against U.S. employers who hire illegal labor. Title II of IRCA specifies a two-step legalization program whereby those aliens who have resided illegally within the United States since on or before 1 January 1982 may petition first for temporary and then for permanent legal residency. This legalization program is considered a less expensive alternative to deporting millions of illegal aliens. One requirement for legal residency is that aliens granted this privilege demonstrate knowledge of basic English, U.S. history and civics, or attempt to achieve such knowledge by attending at least 40 hours of instruction in an INS-certified program. The education requirement is included in the law in order logically to support the granting of permanent residency to illegal aliens, mostly Hispanic, before those foreign nationals who petition for legal residency under other immigration programs. Knowledge of English is considered a sign of integrating into mainstream society. The English language is an important cultural symbol for this society, which legislators feel is threatened by a growing Spanish-speaking minority. Because the goal of the education requirement is not to enable individuals to achieve functional competency in English, the result is a costly and ineffective language policy.

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