Bilingües y bilingüismo en los Estados Unidos: la política lingüística en una época antiinmigrante

In monolingual nation-states, problems do not end for members of linguistic minority groups when they become speakers of the societal language. This is especially the case in immigrant nations during those periods in which anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise. This paper examines the policy problems that confront members of such immigrant groups by examining the case of Latinos in the United States. It argues that this population's well-being is almost exclusively in the hands of English-speaking monolingual individuals who as recent legal decisions illustrate (e. g., Cota v. Tucson Police Department, Perez v. F.B.I, Hernandez v. New York) - have little or no understanding of the condition of bilingualism and little sympathy for the problems encountered by immigrant populations. The paper includes a discussion of a number of different language issues that have been encountered by the Latino population in this country within the legal, employment, and educational domains, as well as an outline of concerns and questions that need to be examined by those who are concerned about the language rights of minority populations