Kansas City is home to 5000 Somalis according to this article from the Kansas City Star and the pressure is on for them and other refugees in Kansas and Missouri to learn English.
Pressure on non-English-speaking people living in the U.S. to learn the language has increased as part of an overall immigration debate, and it promises to be a pivotal issue in the fall elections.
Last year, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed legislation making English the state’s official language.
Missouri voters will have a chance to make English their official language when a proposed constitutional amendment goes on the ballot in November. The intention of the amendment is not to deport non-English-speaking residents, but to make English the language “for all official proceedings in Missouri.” So far, 30 states have passed similar laws and others are pending.
Too many refugees, especially Muslims like these Somalis, purposefully segregate themselves in ethnic enclaves and are thus not completely immersed in English. All the instruction under the sun won’t help if they stay to themselves.
I guess Senator Brownback wasn’t able to keep the Somalis out of Kansas after all. Maybe they slipped into Missouri first! It wasn’t for lack of trying, see this 5-year old article by Thomas Allen at VDARE about how refugee advocate Brownback said, bring them to the US, but not to my state.
By the way, we haven’t changed our name to Somali Watch, it’s just that these colorful refugees seem to be getting all the press attention everywhere they go—throughout the world!