A small town in upstate New York has declared English to be the official language of all government business and all interactions between government entities and the regular population. Jackson, population 1,700, has no city center and only two restaurants. However, its citizens have felt threatened by what they see as the increasing tendency for American society adapt to its immigrants. One member of the city council that voted for the English only measure stated that he believed today's immigrants were less likely than immigrants in the past to assimilate. Jackson's official government business has been conducted in English since 1816 and there seems to be no immediate threat of any other language taking over. The only non-native English speaking group is a small group of Hispanic agricultural laborers.
The law is largely supported in the community, however, its critics have several complaints. The New York Civil Liberties Union finds the law problematic because it discriminates against people who do not speak English. There would be no lawful way for non-English speakers to interact with the local government given the mandate that all communication must take place in English. A more immediate and possibly more damaging threat is the lack of provision for emergency situations and court testimonies. Neither emergency services people like firefighters and police nor court employees can make any lawful effort to communicate with non-English speakers. This means that somebody who did not speak English and who was accused on committing a local crime would have no ability to defend themselves. Also, a non-English speaker would not be able to communicate with their paramedics or 911 operators.
When asked these sorts of questions, the members of the town council seemed unconcerned and in emergency situations, seemed to believe that whatever needed to happen would happen.
On a national level, The American Civil Liberties Union has declared itself to be against any effort to make English the official language of the United States. Beyond the reasons outlined in the Jackson situation, they state that 45 million people (17.5% of the population) in the United States speak a non-English language in their homes, and that many of these people are American citizens. They believe that any effort to make English the official language of the government would constitute discrimination against American citizens.
ProEnglish, a group that supports making English the official language, makes some counters the simplicity of some of these claims. They state that any action to make English the official language would only mean that government work of record could only take place in English. Furthermore, they state that in issues of public health, safety, tourism, and due process (court and police translators), provisions would be made for non-English speakers. The most compelling reason they give for making English the official language of the country is largely education however. They claim that non-English speakers disproportionately earn less money and are part of lower socioeconomic groups. They also claim that efforts to educate children bilingually perpetuate this problem and that children should be taught English as quickly as possible in order to have better lives. While this may be true, the ACLU points out that many of the representatives who support an effort to make English the official language do not support ESL education.
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