“The United States has always been a country where one could go to escape tyranny and persecution, and start a new, prosperous life. However this age old right of immigrants is in danger. Now the US is still very accepting of immigrants, but starting a prosperous life is in jeopardy because of cuts in the bilingual education programs. Although a legal and mandatory program, bilingual education has come under scrutiny and many programs have been cut, even in many states that have a substantial non-English speaking population. Bilingual Education is not a new idea; according to Dr. Perry Castelli, in their book Social Foundations of American Education (2000) there have been forms of the program ever since the 1800s ( 229). However, there was not an outcry for official bilingual education laws until the 1960s, mainly because immigrants were less concerned with education and more concerned with starting a new life (Castelli 2000). This has all changed in today’s world. According to Judy Davis Smith in her article The New Immigrant Students Need More than ESL (2004) between the years 1991 and 1999, the number of language minority school-aged children who are now living in the United States rose from 8 million to 15 million (Davis 21). We cannot afford to have all of these children go through life without an education. According to The Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education (1998), Bilingual Education also allows students of all backgrounds and education levels to learn English through four different types of programs: Two-Way bilingual education, Late-Exit Transitional Bilingual education, Early-exit Transitional Bilingual education, and ESL Pull-out programs. This certainly shows the level of dedication to the bilingual education programs and the willingness to educate all children. In the United States today there is a growing need for more bilingual education programs, but instead many programs have been cut and more non-English speaking students have been left to fend for themselves. This should not be the case. Instead we should expand our bilingual education programs, and instead of trying to get rid of them, try and fix them because the futures of many children’s lives are at stake.”