Immigration, language and disadvantage

Many democratic states provide supports for immigrants who are not fluent speakers of the majority or official language(s). For example, they provide interpreters in courts and hospitals, print administrative forms in multiple languages and employ bilingual staff to provide public services. This paper considers the justification of these policies from the perspective of normative political theory, makes some recommendations about what they ought to consist in and identifies some of their limitations. It argues that instead of appealing to rights, the best justification for these measures has to do with empowering immigrants and enhancing their capabilities. However, although some disadvantages experienced by immigrants for linguistic reasons can be reduced or even eliminated by public policy measures, some important ones cannot. Novel grounds are thus proposed in support of immigrant-receiving societies having a duty to provide meaningful opportunities to learn the majority or official language(s).