Would it be less painful if the ICE agent spoke Spanish?
The company Rosetta Stone is making lots of money in its contracts with the U.S. Military... over 4 million dollars. Now they are adding another $775,000 to help ICE officers learn to speak to detainees.
Well, considering the insults, cursing and other offensive language thrown around by ICE agents during raids, they certainly do need some help learning to speak.
Unfortunately, this defect in their speech is bringing even more money to the immigration industrial complex. This is all making "catch the immigrant" a real money maker.
It sounds like capitalism at its worst.
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Customs Enlists Rosetta to Train Officers' Tongues
by Cecilia Kang
Monday, October 22, 2007; Page D02
Washington Post
Unlike Rosetta Stone's magazine ads, there probably won't be any hardworking farm boys and Italian supermodels connecting at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the Arlington company's new three-year contract with the federal agency may help knock down some linguistic barriers faced by the nation's border guards and immigration agents.
The language-learning software provider landed a $775,000 deal with ICE, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, to supply 15,000 agency employees around the county with software discs and online programs offering instruction in 30 languages. Spanish and Arabic are the agency's most pressing language needs for it to carry out missions of immigration and customs investigations, detention and removal operations, intelligence and federal protective services.
...Rosetta Stone, also known for its ubiquitous airport kiosks, has a track record of supplying software to government agencies. Its biggest federal contract is a $4.2 million agreement with the U.S. Army. Under the Army contract, which began in 2005, the firm tailored its language program to military personnel preparing for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rosetta Stone now has more than 100,000 registered Army users on its online and software CD programs, which focuson words that would be used at checkpoints and warfare terminology like "humvees" and "tanks."
The company said ICE purchased the software instead of hiring language instructors at its various offices because the computer programs give employees flexibility to study at work or home. It's also a lot cheaper than a real teacher.
"Most of us, if we've had to take language in school, we go into a classroom and the most difficult component is speaking, particularly in front of your classmates," said Linda Trude, vice president of institutional sales. "This helps them build confidence and success, and it works."
Shy immigration enforcement agents?
article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102101146.html
cartoon: http://www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/images/cartoon_raids.gif
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