Immigration issues resurface on ballots

Ore. question would limit time in ESL classes

Xavier Chavez taught a history course at Benson High School in Portland, Ore., yesterday. His students, children of immigrants, also take English-as-a-second-language classes. (Dan Ryan/Associated Press)

PORTLAND, Ore. - In a high school classroom, Xavier Chavez is trying to teach a group of restless teenagers about Manifest Destiny, the 19th-century belief that the United States was divinely fated to stretch from sea to shining sea.

But these students are children of immigrants, and they first have to learn English. They might soon have to learn it faster if Oregon voters approve a ballot measure in November to limit the amount of time students can spend in English-as-a-second language classes.

The proposal, modeled after similar laws in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts, is one of a handful of immigration-related ballot measures that will appear this fall on state and local ballots across the nation.

"We call it the battle of the states," said William Gheen, president of the North Carolina-based group Americans for Legal Immigration. "More people have tried to get something like this on the ballot this year than ever before."

A year ago, groups that wanted to crack down on illegal immigration had hoped to push the topic front and center in the presidential campaign.

But the once-explosive issue has simmered down nationally, particularly since both major presidential candidates have endorsed a "path to citizenship" for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

Now the immigration battles in November will be fought on ballots in Oregon, Missouri, and California.

There are 64,000 non-English speakers enrolled in Oregon's public schools, the vast majority of whom are Spanish speakers. The proposal would limit high school students to two years of ESL classes, even less for younger students.

Chavez and his fellow teachers acknowledge that most of their students pick up colloquial English within two years, giving them enough fluency to poke fun at a teammate, answer a text message, or order a slice of pizza.

Faculty members worry instead about academic English - the skills that will let students succeed in advanced classes, whether they are deconstructing "Beowulf" or reciting the principles of photosynthesis.

The Oregon initiative is "just a diversion to the real problems," Chavez said. "We are not looking at what English language learners need. We are just looking to take away. Let's talk about the quality of instruction."

Chavez's students have mixed feelings about the proposal, partly depending on future goals.

Carlos Perez, 17, took Chavez's summer history course to catch up after oversleeping and often missing his first-period class during the school year. He thought limiting English as a second language to just two years would be no problem for him or his friends.

But Beatriz Munoz, 16, who said she wants to be a doctor or a lawyer, sharply disagreed.

"For me, it is not enough, just two years," said Munoz, who is transferring to a private Catholic school in Portland with a strong academic reputation.

"I am worried, what if I don't understand? I have to go to college."

Long-term studies have shown that full mastery of academic English takes five to seven years, said Dr. Jim Cummins, a professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in second language acquisition and literacy development.

But Bill Sizemore, sponsor of the Oregon measure and a longtime antitax activist who was the GOP's gubernatorial nominee in 1998, said the measure was intended to help immigrants, not sideline them.

He said schools warehouse their students in ESL courses for longer than necessary to keep federal and state money flowing.

If Oregonians approve the change, students will join the mainstream faster with the tools they need to compete, he said.