Should Speaking English be a Requirement for Moms?

Short answer, no. Actually, that’s the long answer, too.

Yet late last fall, authorities took Cirila Baltazar Cruz’s two-day-old daughter Rubi from the Pascagoula, Mississippi, hospital where she was born and placed her in foster care.

Hospital social workers claimed in a report that Ruby was a neglected and in need of protection. The evidence? Quoting the report, the Clarion-Ledger and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, say authorities were concerned that the baby “was born to an illegal immigrant,” the “mother had not purchased a crib, clothes, food or formula,” and that “she does not speak English which puts baby in danger.” Continue reading »