Seeking to counter some of the anti-immigrant legislation, lawmakers introduced bills Friday to study the economic impact of immigrants in Maryland.
Sen. Richard Madaleno, D-Montgomery, wants to create a commission to study the impact of immigrants. “This is to have a full accounting of the many benefits associated with immigration in Maryland,” Madaleno said.
Madaleno wants the commission to give a full picture of immigration in Maryland, since much of what has been proposed, he said, amounts to “fear-mongering about Hispanic immigration.”
Three weeks ago, Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Eastern Shore Republican, introduced a bill creating a task force to study the impact of illegal immigration. Madaleno countered by saying the state needs to study all immigrants.
Sen. James Rosapepe has introduced legislation to create the task force on language skills. His bill is the same as one introduced Thursday by nine delegates who are charter members of the New Americans Caucus founded this week, as are both Madaleno and Rosapepe.
The legislation describes “a critical shortage of Americans proficient in languages other than English.”
The Census Bureau in 2005 found that 735,000 people in Maryland spoke foreign languages at home. “Many are fluent in languages of high interest for national security, defense, business and trade,” said the bill, including about 12,000 speakers of Persian, 9,000 speakers of Urdu, 8,000 of Arabic, 49,000 of Chinese, 34,000 of Korean, 15,000 of Hindi and 19,000 speakers of Russian.
Rosapepe himself was born in Rome in 1951, though both his parents were U.S. citizens at the time, he said.
He was a U.S. ambassador to Romania for three years.
