IMMIGRANTS TO THE United States should “speak American” once they arrive in the country, former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said.
Palin was speaking to CNN’s State of the Union programme yesterday when she was asked about her opinion on Donald Trump’s criticism of fellow Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish.
“It’s a benefit of Jeb Bush to be able to be so fluent in Spanish, because we have a large and wonderful Hispanic population that is helping to build America,” she said.
On the other hand, you know, I think we can send a message and say: ‘You want to be in America? A: You better be here legally, or you’re out of here. B: When you’re here, let’s speak American.’
Language, she added, should be a “unifying aspect of a nation”.
‘Unfriendly foreign nations’
Palin also indicated that she might like the position of energy secretary if Trump is elected president.
“I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby, oil and gas and minerals – those things that God has dumped on this part of the earth for mankind’s use, instead of relying on unfriendly foreign nations for us to import their resources,” she said.
In an interview last week, Trump said Bush, a fluent Spanish speaker, should lead by only “speaking English while in the United States”.
The dig was the latest in a war of words between the two candidates that has escalated dramatically in recent weeks.
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