Immigration

Well, I must say I'm impressed: According to this article, the European Union has realized the need to require a basic competency in culture and language for its immigrants, and it's something the U.S. needs to implement as well.

European Union justice and interior ministers agreed Friday that new immigrants to the 25-nation bloc should be required to learn local languages, and to adhere to general "European values" that will guide them toward better integration.

"It's not like we are against immigration," [Dutch immigration minister Rita] Verdonk said. "If you want to live in the Netherlands, you have to adhere to our rules ... and learn our language."

Highlighting a European-wide problem, Verdonk said that some 500,000 Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands don't speak Dutch.

Many Muslims have bristled at new rules targeting immigrants that they say amount to racial profiling that is insensitive of their religion.

Yet incoming EU justice and home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini told reporters in Rome that integration had to be an essential part of an EU policy.

"We can't imagine an immigration policy that focuses only on the prevention of illegal immigration, without considering the integration of those who want to enter a European country to live and work there in full respect of the law of both the country and Europe," Frattini said.

The EU ministers also set out a list of 11 nonbinding guidelines for governments and immigrant communities, including accepting basic European values, providing employment and education, knowledge of the local language, culture and history, and open access to local health care and other public services.

The EU is right on! In order to maintain a stable society that integrates and operates in cooperation with multiple ethnicities and subcultures, there must be some basic commonalities that all occupants of a nation share. Language and literacy are two key components.

This is not racism--and if it is, it's equal-opportunity racism. If you want to operate in and contribute to American society, you need to know English. Not because English is better than Spanish or French or Arabic or Japanese, but because we use it here. If I wanted to survive in Portugal, I'd need to learn Portuguese. It's not too much to ask.