ABSTRACT
The group that is most likely to self-identify as American is composed of those who report that they speak primarily English. Some Latinos live in communities of monolingual English speakers, where a Spanish accent stands out. Others live in communities where multiple varieties of English co-exist in relative harmony, in which Spanish, English, and Chicano or other varieties of Latino English each have a place. The importance of language to identity and to ethnicity has been well established by sociolinguists and anthropological linguists. For people of Mexican heritage living in California, there is a lot of data to suggest that for the Latinos/as, language is perhaps the primary marker of allegiance. The Defendants deliberately took advantage of Plaintiff Baltazar Cruz’s indigence, inability to speak or understand English, and lack of familiarity with the US legal system in order to attempt to remove permanently from her mother.
