Schwarzenegger Win is a Victory for All Americans

Immigrant’s ascension to governorship an affirmation of the importance of English

Washington, D.C. – On behalf of 1.7 million U.S. English, Inc. members, Chairman Mauro E. Mujica today congratulated U.S. English advisory board member Arnold Schwarzenegger on his successful election to the governorship of California. Schwarzenegger, who has been on the advisory board of U.S. English since 1988, gathered more than three million votes in the recall election to replace current California Governor Gray Davis.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the United States as an immigrant in 1968,” Mujica said after Schwarzenegger’s victory. “Next month he will be inaugurated as the governor of the nation’s largest state. The tale of the American dream has come to fruition once again. As always, it went by route of learning English.”

English proficiency has long been identified as the key to success in the United States. The U.S. Department of Education found that non-English proficient individuals earn only half what English speakers earn. A Public Agenda study found that 85 percent of foreign born adults find it “somewhat hard” or “very hard” to get a good job or do well in the United States without learning English. The Latino Coalition found language to be the greatest barrier that keeps Latinos from succeeding in the United States.

Mujica, who immigrated from Chile in 1965, saw Schwarzenegger’s victory as a sign that Americans want to see their politicians be unifiers, not dividers. “The election should come as a sign that in the post 9-11 era, this nation of immigrants wants to concentrate on what brings us together. I am pleased that despite attempts by special interest groups to paint U.S. English, Inc. and the Schwarzenegger campaign as anti-immigrant, voters saw through the feeble attempts to paint immigrants as being unresponsive to the needs of newcomers.”

Yet as much as voters wanted change, Mujica also noted that they maintain the same principles. “In 1988, California voters made English the official language of California because they believed in the unifying bond of a common language,” explained Mujica. “Yesterday they showed that they want a governor who embraces that pro-immigrant, pro-America ideal. We look forward to working with him to restore the Golden State’s luster.”

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.