Immigration bill and English language

CNN’s recent story on the proposed immigration bill includes this:

“In order to earn permanent status, undocumented workers would have to pay a fine and have lived in the United States for at least five years prior to the introduction of the legislation. They also would have to have worked in the United States for at least four years.

And they would have to pass security checks, pay U.S. taxes and demonstrate a knowledge of English. “

So an English competency requirement may become part of federal immigration law, as it should, and employers should be free to take reasonable steps to encourage English competency and usage (which, as I said, does not mean dictatorial, punitive, zero-tolerance policies).