Texas Town Adopts Spanish As Official Language
The border town of El Cenizo,
whose population is heavily Hispanic, has adopted Spanish as its
official language and declared the community a safe haven for
illegal immigrants
Mayor Rafael Rodriguez told Reuters that he and most of the
town's residents speak only Spanish. Many are first-generation
immigrants, both legal and illegal. Rodriguez himself crossed
into the United States illegally from Mexico but became a U.S.
citizen in 1995.
The ``safe haven'' ordinance forbids city staff, which
consists of one employee and two volunteers, from helping the
U.S. Border Patrol find illegal immigrants or inquiring about
any person's immigration status.
The intent was to avoid meddling in peoples' lives,
Rodriguez said.
``We are not protecting them and neither are we turning them
in,'' he said.
City Secretary Elsa Degollado estimated that the town's
population currently includes 1,000 illegal immigrants.
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