Two Towns Adopt English as the Official Language

Farmers Branch, Texas and Taneytown, Maryland add to growing list

Less than one week after Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved making English the official language of the state, two towns – Farmers Branch, Texas and Taneytown, Md. – declared English as their official language Monday evening. Both measures call for the town government to do official business overwhelmingly in English, with common sense exemptions consistent with federal and state law, such as emergency services.

The action in the towns is in line with the strong support official English measures have received throughout the country. A Sept. 2006 poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. found that 75 percent of Texans support making English the official language of the Lone Star State. Another poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc., also conducted in Sept. 2006, found that 75 percent of Marylanders want English to be declared the official language of the Old Line State. In both cases, official English had majority support among Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

“Making English the official language is not a partisan issue or an immigration issue, it is an assimilation issue,” said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board of U.S. English, Inc. “Americans have an expectation that immigrants to the United States are on the road to learning English and they expect the government to enact policies consistent with that goal. I applaud the council members in both Taneytown and Farmers Branch and encourage other jurisdictions to follow their lead.”

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.