On the recordApril 30, 1996
To require that all deportation notices be in Spanish as well as English, when many deportees do not speak Spanish, but rather one of a score of other languages--Spanish is not the language of all people we deport. We deport people from all over the world. Many Spanish speakers do understand English. Many deportees do not speak Spanish and, as I say, it is a puzzle and it is also wasteful. I also believe it is important. It creates the impression that Spanish is equal to English in this country. Spanish is not equal to English in this country as the common language that is the United States of America. We are going to vote on that soon. I did not vote to make English the official language of the United States when it came up years ago. I will do so now because I think there have been some adjustments, some understandings that will be helpful.
Source
govinfo.gov
