THE US Senate voted to make English the national language of the United States, AFP reports.
"The government of the United States shall preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the USA," said an amendment to immigration legislation approved 63-34.
It requires English to be the language of all official paperwork and business, with some exceptions for voter registration, courts and help during disasters.
"I don't see how you can unify the United States of America unless we have a national language,'' Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander said. "English is part of our national identity. It's part of our spirit. It's part of our blood. It's part of who we are.''
US Senator James Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, who proposed the measure, said that 27 of the 50 US states already call English their official language.
Inhofe also mentioned that several polls over the past 25 years show more than 80 per cent of Americans and 77 per cent of Latinos agree that English should be the official language of the US.
But critics said they feared the directive could lead government agencies to scale back their bilingual efforts, cause discrimination against people who do not speak English, disrupt emergency operations in communities with populations of immigrants and have other unintended consequences, New York Times reports.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democrat leader, said the Inhofe amendment was racist. "Everybody who speaks with an accent knows that they need to learn English just as fast as they can," he said.
Inhofe said critics were exaggerating the potential effects of his plan.
Inhofe's plan would also stiffen the language rules for immigrants seeking to qualify for citizenship under the new legislation, requiring them to demonstrate English proficiency and understanding of American history and government rather than simply to enroll in a language class.
US President George W. Bush, speaking about immigration on a trip to Arizona, US, reiterated that under his proposal illegal immigrants would have to learn English. "If you learn English, and you're a hard worker, and you have a dream, you have the capacity from going from picking crops to owning the store, or from sweeping office floors to being an office manager," Bush said.
According to AFP, the White House voiced support for legislation.
"It's part of assimilation," he said. "If you take a look at the data, people who learn English tend to be more prosperous (and) tend to be better at their jobs," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
