To answer the original question posited via the thread title: Nah, there isn't going to be any civil war. This is nothing compared to the Civil Rights conflicts of the '60s, and there were no civil wars then, either.
I believe that we all would -- but that is going to require some changes in the law. My God -- the wet foot/dry foot policy effectively amounts to murdering innocent Cubans who only want to become Americans. I am opposed to anything which is mandated by legislation for the good of the people for whom it is being mandated. The world needs gardeners too. If they don't want to speak English, they should not be forced to. The world needs gardeners too. Hell, I've worked in The Netherlands, Austria, and Norway. I don't speak Dutch, German, or Norwegian. Yes. It was that way when I was growing up with Vietnamese immigrants. The parents would not allow their children to speak Vietnamese. They were very strict and very focused on ensuring that their children integrated for success. I have a lot of respect for those people.
by not making immigrants learn the predominant language of the country they live in (either in this country or any other), you are in essence, forcing a 2nd class status on them; as they will never be able to communicate effectively enough to get past a manual labor job.
By not forcing immigrants either way, I am proposing to give them a choice. I am not forcing them to learn English; I am not forcing them not to learn English. This is a free country; let them do as they will.
??? lost me on this - MURDERING part? - I may be ignorant about something here, are we shooting them on site? I'm only talking about immigrating here, not just work visas. Also, it would be a class, to help them not harm them. Shoot, our community colleges and schools already offer (I thought) lots of free english classes. Ya, I respect the reason, just sad so many can't speak their native tongue, I know my friends wish they knew it better. Most can understand their mom's fast ramble in spanish and then they speak back in english.
I say that we are effectively murdering them because we send them back to die at the hands of the fascist Cuban regime. Sure, we aren't pulling the triggers ourselves -- but it might be more humane if we did. I am not opposed to giving immigrants free classes -- as long as the taxpayers don't get stuck with the bill.
OK, now I see what you meant. I haven't heard the stories yet, I just wondered what would happen to them if they are forced to return to cuba being communistic loving and hugging, flower power and peaceful that they are. But if they learn English even at our expense, it would cost a lot less than having to have interpreters at every business, plus printing everything in 15 languages, etc... I feel I could visit any country, but expect to have some problems communicating or knowing there laws, etc.. BUT, if I move somewhere I would expect to learn THEIR language first, at least enough to get started and learn more when I got their. SO, I feel the same for those coming here. I am sure you already know the respect you gain by speaking the language of the person you are trying to talk to. It works here when I speak spanish to someone from Mexico, it breaks down the walls and they are more willing to talk, smile, etc... even though I don't speak spanish very well yet. (not much practice)
I am one lucky bastard. When I went to Austria, they spoke English. When I went to The Netherlands, they spoke English. When I went to Norway, they spoke English. When I went to Sweden, they spoke English. When I went to Belgium, they spoke English. When I went to Colombia, they spoke English. The even spoke English in England, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Singapore, The Bahamas and Belize. This is all good, because my language skills are horrible. I've tried to learn additional languages on many occassions and my brain just doesn't seem built for it.
For your comments in this thread, I nominate Will.Spencer for President of the United States and Mexico. Debunked, you can be VP. Immigrants will learn the dominant language. 1st generation immigrants normally speak the dominant language in a broken fasion, 2nd gen. Speak the dominant language fluently, and speak their parent's native language in a home domain. That means they can't use their parent's language in academic/professional domains. By the third generation, they normally don't speak the grandparent's native language, although they may have receptive bilingualism, meaning they can understand some things spoken in that language. There is no need to force language on anyone. It happens automatically as a result of society. If you for some reason had to take refuge in Mexico (and continue living there- think the day after tomorrow), your kids would grow up bilingual, and unless you artificially tried to maintain English, your grandchildren wouldn't speak it .
There are many hispanic Americans (born in the US, 2nd gen), who don't speak ENglish or speak it horribly.
How could you be born in a country and not speak the language? You would have to try very hard to accomplish that. Either that, or you're a little soft in the head.
They skip school and only hang out in their neighborhood where you get away with speaking Spanish only. And oh yeah: their dumbass parents of course don't speak English nor do they care if the kids do. 3rd world immigration lowers the education level of the US bigtime!