Latinos and Language

As the debate on immigration stalls in the U.S. Congress, states and smaller governmental entities as well as private citizens have stepped into the fray. The controversy is multifaceted but at the core is the question, “Who is an American?” The traditional value of the English language appears threatened by the millions of Spanish-speaking immigrants, legally documented or otherwise, currently in the United States. In Arizona, legislators and voters propose laws to permit English only in government matters and public classrooms. In response, litigation filed in state and federal courts has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Population projections indicate that Arizona will become a Hispanic “majority-minority” state by 2050. This book provides a framework to analyze how Arizona has reached this juncture placing the problem in a national and global context. Thus, the issue of language and immigration is not limited to one Southwestern U.S. state but rather, can be a vehicle for discussion of national identity in an ever-shrinking world. This analysis should be useful to anyone interested in the fields of public policy, government studies, language and immigration.