The ideas for an English-only law ignore certain realities about the U.S. To begin, legislators must keep in mind that the U.S. has, does and always will gain its strength from the people who live in it. Because the exact composition of the immigrant population that comes to our shores varies from century to century, we clearly cannot have an official language. Within the last 200 years, the U.S. also has had periods of great European immigration, and at times had a largely German-speaking population in many areas of the upper midwest. Though the temptation arose to stop the German-speaking trends, cooler heads did prevail, and the U.S. remained without an official language. Some also assume that without an official language, immigrants will have no incentive to learn English.
Statistics disprove that assumption.
In fact, second-generation immigrants now learn English faster than those of years past, and many use their education to help teach other family members who do not have the time to go back to school. A certain truth also exists in a U.S. without an official language. Language has the power to represent people, their customs and traditions. Thus, as the culture of a country changes, so may its language tendencies. If the government had their best interests in mind, it would rather spend a few extra dollars on bilingual publications than try to turn these people away, using language as a weapon.