They pay taxes. They don't take advantage of services. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to vote in May on a similar ordinance. State and federal laws require bilingual access to government services, but critics charge that the measures are unspecific and lack enforcement provisions. And the growth of the limited-English population has been dramatic.
Efforts are underway to strengthen California's bilingual access law.
In the Bay Area, there has been little opposition to the measures, which would require the cities to add bilingual staff whenever a group of limited-English speakers that shares a language reaches a certain threshold. But neither of them is English. Mauro E. Mujica, chairman of an advocacy group called U.S. English, says he has nothing against immigrants. He's one himself. The cities, of course, scoff at such statements.