There is substantial evidence that one's ability to learn new languages decreases with age. Thus, those who are forced to become fluent in English will inevitably be unable to learn it to nearly the same degree as those who speak English as their first language. This can result in those people facing many obstacles in a society where they are expected to only speak English, which greatly reduces their potential to contribute to society. This negatively impacts the economy, which then places a greater burden on the average taxpayer.
And your solution is to.... what? Force Americans to know five different languages to accommodate foreigners? Let them speak a language no one understands? I'd much rather have all of them learn one more so we can all understand each other. They, as people with the privilege of coming here, have that duty. :^)
America was, is, and will most likely always be a nation of immigrants. These immigrants bring with them their unique cultures, stories, and practical wisdom with their languages, which in turn makes America more diverse as a whole. Diversity is not a weakness, but instead a glorious strength. If everyone is forced to learn English, then these shared experiences get lost amongst children of immigrants (more so than it already is), especially if they are simultaneously discouraged from speaking their native tongue. This has a profound negative effect on the nation as a whole, as once they lose their cultural connections to their ancestors, we lose out on them too.
We were never really a nation of constant immigration until the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act.
We had an occasional big flow and then cut it off until they assimilated. You will see this before and after the Ellis Island immigration.
Diversity is a weakness. People with huge differences living together never works. Imagine having a wife with whom you have nothing in common. How do you expect that marriage to last? That is how you get Balkan states, which is honestly where we are headed. Look at these race riots as a preview of that.
And those Ellis Island immigrants? They enthusiastically learned English. We didn't have a social safety net to bail them out for not learning English like we do with today's immigrants.
Neither of those were good reasons not to force immigrants to be able to understand the people of the land they consciously chose to immigrate to. Being harder to learn the language isn't a reason to give them a pass- either they work harder or they aren't someone worth letting in the country. And as for them preserving their culture by not being forced to learn English, you are proving that they are disrupting our country by causing subcultures to pop up. Imagine going into an area of YOUR country and you go to Walmart and none of them speak English and you can't accomplish any type of exchange. Ridiculous.
