English "Only" Wins In Iowa

English-only ruling draws fire
Shawn Gude - The Daily Iowan

http://media.www.dailyiowan.com/media...

 
Rep. Steve King, a Republican who represents western Iowa, has long been a controversial figure in political circles. While earning the praise of some for his lack of so-called "political correctness," others have chastised his actions, labeling them as nativistic and xenophobic.

Last week's ruling on a 2006 lawsuit brought by King continued that swirling controversy, when 5th District Judge Douglas Staskal decided printing Iowa voting forms in languages other than English violated a 2002 state law.

"There's a lot of room for debate," UI Law Professor Todd Pettys said about the ruling. "It's not clearly right, it's not clearly wrong … It's hard to predict how the Supreme Court would resolve it."

The Supreme Court has set a precedent that "all citizens have a fundamental right to vote, and states cannot interfere with that right unless they have a compelling reason," he noted.

Whether that right was infringed upon was up for debate.

"The goal of my office was to make the voting process as uncomplicated as possible for all Iowans, regardless of their first language," Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro said in a statement.

Reactions on the decision were varied, with King and anti-illegal immigration activists lauding the decision and pro-immigrant groups criticizing it.

"This Iowa court ruling upholds our official English law," King said in a statement. "No one is above Iowa law, not even the Iowa state government."

Craig Halverson, director of the anti-illegal immigration Iowa Minutemen Defense Corps, said much of the same, hailing the ruling.

"I think that it will stop a lot of illegal aliens from voting," he said. "Those who come in legally, there will be no problem."

But others, including Latino Law Students Association President Irma Aboytes, see it differently. Aboytes said Latino immigrants are many times forced to work two jobs to provide for the families, leaving little time for to learn English - even if they want to.

"I think that it's again another blow to the [Latino] community," said Aboytes, a second-year law student at the UI. "Once again, you have someone in power saying that we're not going to be welcoming and making life more difficult. I see the other side of it, but from my experiences, that's how I perceive it."

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller hasn't determined whether to challenge the ruling, a spokesman said Wednesday.

E-mail DI reporter Shawn Gude at:

shawn-gude@uiowa.edu

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Am I wrong or does one not have to be able to read and speak English to become a citizen?  I know that was a requirement at one time.  So if that is the case then why does any CITIZEN need a ballot in any language but English?  You must be a citizen to vote.  Why do these bleeding heart liberals continue their assualt upon our voting process and, therefore, our elected government?  I know illegal aliens are and have been voting in our elections.  They are told to do this by groups like LaRaza and MALDEF.  Then they can elect Hispanics and we all know what happens then.  We have the Hispanic Causus that threatens any bill that tries to stop illegal immigration in any way.  Our ballots should be in only one language and that is English.  We don't have them in German, French, Italian, Japanese or any other language.  So why Spanish?  Because Hispanics are the main problem.  And they wonder why people blame them?

It's still required, Mammaw:Information on how to apply for Naturalization and Citizenship in the USA

There are seven basic requirements.

• Be a permanent resident for five (5) years having a continuous residence in the United States
• Having a physical presence in the United States
• Having the required time within the USCIS district or State
• Having a good moral character
• Having sufficient English and U.S. civics knowledge
• Declaring attachment to the U.S. Constitution

  These requirements vary depending on whether the applicant has special circumstances that the USCIS recognizes for naturalization. The Eligibility Worksheet provided in the Citizenship USA Self-Help US immigration Kit will help you to determine if you are eligible for naturalization.

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So there is absolutely no reason for ballots to be printed in any language but ENGLISH!

Absolutely correct!!  Not just ballots, but tv channels, telephone answering machines, labels on food, government forms, etc.

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Little by little, States are making their own laws on what they will tolerate, even if the Administration won't.  It's going to be along never ending battle, but there are places where progress is being made!  Whoo Hoo!

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All I can say is You Go Iowa and Oklahoma - I hope it spreads like wildfire!

Patsy said: Absolutely correct!!  Not just ballots, but tv channels, telephone answering machines, labels on food, government forms, etc.

 

Exactly! I am sick to death of "pushing 1 for English"! OUR COUNTRY AND OUR RULES!

It is a PRIVILEGE to be an American- NOT a right! Respect the rules of OUR country or GET OUT.....I hear there is plenty of "open" real estate in Pakistan!

Sure wish the other 49 states would "get cracking" with this and make EVERY state require ENGLISH ONLY!

Excellent article Creampuff! Thanks so much for posting it.

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See, all these little (and some not so little like the new laws passed in AZ and OK) grass roots "laws" being passed against illegals all over the country makes me wonder what la la land all 3 candidates are living in to think this is just a few thousand "lou dobbs" xenophobes????

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Well the fact that we are left with the three illegal alien lovers that we have makes one think that maybe there are only a few thousand of us.  If anyone had told me that two of these three would be our choices I would have never believed it.

Good point Mammaw, none of us thot we would be in this spot last year at this time with the worst possible candidates on both sides!!  But I did notice that immigration is still in the top 4 things according to that last poll on I think it was MSNBC....it is still a concern for many but unfortunately got buried by $4 a gallon gasoline, the war, lack of health care etc...it has not gone away, but has just been overwhelmed the past few months.

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VeeBee,  I believe that immigration was too hot an issue and deliberately got covered up.  This is all manipulated.  Not one of the candidates have anything to say about the illegal alien issue.  You hear nothing from them.  There's nobody to force them to address this issue.  I would love to have the chance to say to each of them "Tell America's citizenry exactly what your plan is for the millions of illegal aliens who are already in this country and those who are contemplating coming illegally.  Tell us what you would do to all the employers who have contributed to this problem by hiring them.  America wants to know."  And then I would not allow them to change the subject or worm their way out of answering the questions. 

Thanks for the post, creampuff! Hope things in Iowa are great! Here is a site with some additional information about English official language states!

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