It is critical that immigrants learn English

For a while my wife and I and our teenage son did some volunteer work teaching English to non-English speakers in an evening class.

It wasn't a highly sophisticated process. We didn't speak more than a few words of Spanish, the lingua franca of most of the class. Most of the class didn't speak more than a few words of English. The textbook was rudimentary, with a lot of pictures. We all did a lot of pointing at the pictures, and the students learned new vocabulary under the pictures amid a lot of smiling and giggling.

It was, however, immensely satisfying and moving for us. Our students, mostly Hispanic, were then limping along in low-paid jobs from which they likely would never rise unless they could learn English, the language of their new country. We don't know what ultimately became of them but felt that, in a small way, we were helping them move along so they might meaningfully integrate and prosper in America, the land of opportunity.

Now Americans are engaged in vigorous debate about Spanish-speaking immigrants, many of whom have crossed the southern border of the United States illegally in the hopes of finding a better life here.

It is a complex problem with various facets. There is consensus among Americans that the border should be made less porous and the illegal flow stemmed. There is no consensus about what to do with the 12 million or so Hispanic illegals already in the country. Proposals range. Some argue for arresting them and sending them back to their homelands, primarily Mexico. Others argue their labor is crucial for industries like agriculture and housing construction and they should be permitted to stay with temporary worker permits, perhaps ultimately earning citizenship.

However this turns out, one thing should be requisite: Immigrants from any country who become citizens should be, or should become, reasonably proficient in the English language. Twenty-seven states have already made English their official language, and nine more have English-only bills pending.

Discussion of a federal law making English the official language is under way. The Senate has been wrestling with English-only legislation. Last week the House tackled the issue of bilingual balloting. Florida Republican Cliff Stearns argued against it, declaring: "If you have the good fortune to be able to vote in the United States, then it is not too much to ask that this be accomplished in English." But Stearns' argument was overruled by a majority of representatives who affirmed the right of voters in areas with large populations of non-English-speaking citizens to cast ballots in their native language.