Santorum Thinks U.S. Has Official Language

Rick Santorum, in Puerto Rico in advance of its primary on Sunday, told a local newspaper that he supports its citizens' right to their own independent state. However, he would not back statehood for the U.S. territory unless it adopts English as its official language. "Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law," he said. "And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language, such as Hawaii, but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language." It might be hard for Santorum to win over Puerto Rican voters with that attitude since not only do Puerto Ricans generally advocate for language issues to be controlled by state governments, but English as an official language is not actually a requirement for statehood.