U.S. English

U.S. English consists of both a 501(c)(3) private foundation (U.S. English Foundation Inc.) and a 501(c)(4) lobbying and advocacy organization (U.S. English Inc.) dedicated to making English the official language of the United States through amendments made to the US constitution and harnessing support from Congress. It was founded by anti-immigration activist John Tanton and Senator S. I. Hayakawa in 1983. According to its website, U.S. English "is the nation's oldest, largest citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States." The group opposes transitional bilingual education.

In 2011, the U.S. English Foundation Inc. reported $317,788 in total revenue, $469,293 in total expenses, and a deficit of -$48,945 in net assets; and U.S. English Inc. reported $2,489,361 in total revenue, $2,697,236 in total expenses, and a deficit of -$107,421 in net assets. Both were signed by Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman/CEO. Mujica reportedly received a combined salary from the two groups of $414,486.

Ties to the Anti-Immigration Tanton Network
Since U.S. English was founded in part by John Tanton, it is part of the so-called John Tanton Network, a group of anti-immigration organizations like the Federation for American Immigration Reform and Center for Immigration Studies.

Tanton Warns U.S. English Staff of Coming "Latin Onslaught"
In 1988, a set of internal memoranda from John Tanton to staff at the Federation for American Immigration Reform and U.S. English was leaked to the press. In them, Tanton warned of a coming "Latin onslaught," questioned whether Latinos were as "educable" as others, and worried that Latinos were outbreeding whites.

Lobbying
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, U.S. English Inc. (the lobbying group) reported $1,749,000 in federal lobbying expenditures for 2011, $2,394,000 for 2010, and $2,430 for 2009. The sole lobbying issue in each year was immigration. In 2012, the group hired lobbyist Nelson C. Garcia, Jr., who has a "revolving door profile" on OpenSecrets.org because he has lobbied for the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, the Automotive Recyclers Association, the Intelligent Transport Society of America, and the Alliance of American Insurers, as well as being legislative director for U.S. Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) and U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), and legislative assistant to former U.S. Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA).

Finances
In 2011, the U.S. English Foundation Inc. reported $317,788 in total revenue, $469,293 in total expenses, and a deficit of -$48,945 in net assets; and U.S. English Inc. reported $2,489,361 in total revenue, $2,697,236 in total expenses, and a deficit of -$107,421 in net assets. Both were signed by Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman/CEO. Mujica reportedly received a combined salary from the two groups of $414,486.

Funders
According to a review of publicly available filings with the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission, as well as state-level data from a variety of sources, by Bridge Project, U.S. English Foundation (the 501(c)(3) private foundation arm of U.S. English) received the following grants from private foundations between 1998 and 2011:


 * Aequus Institute:	$4,000.00	 (2004-2008)
 * Bill and Berniece Grewcock Foundation:	$4,000.00 	(1999-2000)
 * The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation:	$6,000.00	 (2002-2007)
 * Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation:	$248,000.00 	(1998, 2000-2001, 2003-2008)
 * Donors Capital Fund:	$55,000.00	(2007, 2009-2011)
 * DonorsTrust:	$11,350.00	(2004-2005, 2007-2010)
 * Lowndes Foundation:	$500.00	(2004)
 * The Roe Foundation:	$10,000.00 (1998-2005, 2008-2009)
 * The Whitcomb Charitable Foundation:	$13,000.00	(2007-2011)

Advisory Board
As of June 2013:


 * Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman and CEO (salary of over $400,000 a year)
 * Edward A. Capano
 * Denton Cooley, M.D.
 * Midge Decter
 * Jorge Delgado
 * Dinesh Desai
 * Mrs. Richard DeVos
 * George Gilder
 * Nathan Glazer, Ph.D.
 * Charles Gogolak
 * Lee Majors
 * Laura McKenzie
 * Harvey Meyerhoff
 * Barbara Mujica, Ph.D.
 * Alex Olmedo
 * Arnold Palmer
 * Roger K. Petersen
 * Norman Podhoretz
 * Randolph Rowland
 * James Schlesinger
 * Arnold Schwarzenegger
 * Norman D. Shumway
 * Alex Trebek
 * Alan D. Weinberger
 * Roger Wildermuth
 * George W. Wilson
 * Werner P. Wolf, D.Phil.

Contact Details
Web: http://www.us-english.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/USEnglishInc Twitter: https://twitter.com/USEnglishInc

Mailing Address: 2000 L Street NW, Suite 702 Washington, DC 20036

Telephone: (202) 833-0100 Fax: (202) 833-0108 Email: info AT usenglish.org

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * John Tanton
 * John Tanton Network
 * ProEnglish
 * Federation for American Immigration Reform
 * NumbersUSA
 * Center for Immigration Studies

External Articles

 * Devin Burghart, "A History of Problems with Racism and English-Only Groups", Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights, February 10, 2012