... in response to Wrong Again, posted by Ray on Jan 8, 2006You have no understanding of the hierarchy of laws, and this is WAY off-topic, so this is my LAST post in this thread.
The federal Constitution is the law of the land. Other laws, such as state Constitutions, cannot supercede the federal Constitution. If legislatures write bills that supercede higher laws, they can be challenged and struck down as unconstitutional or in violation of a higher law.
IMBRA is ONLY the law of the land to the extent that its provisions do not violate any other laws deemed to be higher. For example, the powers of BCIS/INS are set out in the Act which created it, the Homeland Security Act (HSA). IMBRA cannot require BCIS to perform duties which are beyond its constitutional powers set out in that act (HSA), unless IMBRA itself is an amendment to the HSA.
None of the provisions in IMBRA have yet been tested or challenged as to their constitutionality, though they are likely to be over time.
I claim that the Acts creating the myriad of federal agencies do not require them to conduct their affairs in any language other than the offical language of the US, or deal with other nationals in any language other than other countries' official languages. So long as those Acts supercede IMBRA, then it cannot legally/constitutionally require a federal agency to communicate in non-official languages.
We disagree as to whether the US has English as its official language. If you feel strongly enough about your position, then test it. Go to a small claims court, a traffic court, etc, and request that the proceedings be conducted in Russian, Swahili, or Urdu etc., as that is your primary language (say), and see what the presiding judge tells you. LOL!