The Romney campaign says Rick Santorum was wrong to demand Puerto Rico make its official language English if they wish to become a U.S. state.
“Puerto Rico currently recognizes both English and Spanish as the official languages of the commonwealth,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul, CNN reports. “Governor Romney believes that English is the language of opportunity and supports efforts to expand English proficiency in Puerto Rico and across America. However, he would not, as a prerequisite for statehood, require that the people of Puerto Rico cease using Spanish.”
The island territory, holding a GOP primary this Sunday, is set to hold a non-binding referendum on statehood this November, pushed for by pro-statehood Gov. Luis Fortuño (who is supporting Romney) and his majority in the legislature.
On Wednesday, Santorum told the Puerto Rican newspaper El Vocero that islanders would have to be fully proficient in English, in order to genuine integrate into the main American culture — and he said, to comply with federal law — in order to be granted statehood if they wanted it.
In fact, there is no federal law, either in the Constitution or current federal statutes, establishing English as a required official language of government business in order to qualify for statehood. (Though in the past, Congress did make such a requirement for statehood in 1811 for Louisiana, where French was widely spoken, and also in 1906 regarding the Native American languages spoken in areas of Oklahoma.) But the fact remains that Spanish is the primary language of Puerto Rico, and will continue to be so as a cultural fact for the foreseeable future.
But while the idea isn’t unprecedented, it also appears to be going over like a lead balloon in Puerto Rico. Both English and Spanish are official languages there, but Spanish is by far the dominant language of everyday interaction.
Indeed, one of Santorum’s major endorsers in Puerto Rico, former territorial Sen. Oreste Ramos, has retracted his endorsement.
“Such a requirement would be unconstitutional, and also would clash with our sociological and linguistic reality, as a question of principle I cannot back a person who holds that position,” Oreste said. “As a Puerto Rican and Spanish-speaking U.S. citizen, I consider the position of Mr. Santorum offensive.”
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