This Friday, President Donald Trump will declare and sign an executive order to make English the official language of the United States.
The president’s order seeks to end the policy requiring federal agencies to provide linguistic assistance to non-English speakers, though it will allow those agencies to decide on the matter.
The Trump Administration argues that around 180 countries have an official language and that, while over 350 languages are spoken in the U.S., English is the most widely used.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report Trump’s decision, which will overturn a 2000 executive order by former President Bill Clinton that sought to improve linguistic access to federal programs in multiple languages, including Spanish.
During his campaign, President Trump spoke about the languages spoken in the U.S., criticizing the country’s linguistic diversity.
“They’re languages, it’s the craziest thing, languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s something very horrible,” he said during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2024.
In 2018, during his first term, Trump pushed for changes to implement a merit-based policy, supporting legislation that would have strongly favored immigrants who spoke English, had a high level of education, and high incomes over less-qualified applicants with lower incomes.
In 2023, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) introduced a bill to make English the official language of the U.S., though in past legislative sessions other Republicans had promoted the idea.
The “English Language Unity Act,” which did not advance, sought to require all federal government functions to be conducted in English and that immigrants understand their responsibilities as citizens in English before becoming naturalized Americans.
Trump’s executive order will allow agencies to use other languages but will not require them to do so and will prioritize English.
Image: Opinion
