Trump to sign order making English the official language

President Trump is planning to sign an executive order Friday making English the official language of the U.S.

The order “encourages new Americans to adopt a national language that opens doors to greater opportunities,” according to a White House fact sheet.

It rescinds a mandate from then-President Clinton in 2000 that required any entity that receives federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.

“Agencies will have flexibility to decide how and when to offer services in languages other than English to best serve the American people and fulfill their agency mission,” the sheet said.

The U.S. has never had an official language in its 249-year history.

The order argues that an official language will “strengthen” the country and “empower” citizens, and that despite there being more than 350 languages spoken in the U.S., English remains the most used across the country. It also says that roughly 180 counties have an official language, making the U.S. an outlier.

The fact sheet about the president’s order “affirms that a common language fosters national cohesion, helps newcomers engage in communities and traditions, and enriches our shared culture.”

The Spanish version of the White House website has already vanished, a move Mr. Trump made his first term as well, before then-President Biden reinstated it.

“It is a long overdue, welcomed move that today President Donald Trump repealed the Clinton-era Executive Order 13166 and replaced it with a new executive order stipulating English as the official language of government,” said acting ProEnglish Executive Director Stephanie White in a statement.

“In light of this overwhelming national sentiment, the president properly responded to the disconnect that undermined America’s traditional process of immigrant assimilation. Every American should be proud of their national origin, race, native language and customs. But without public policies that reinforce the English tie that unites us, multilingual diversity could well become the undoing of our country.”

On the other side was House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, who said Mr. Trump’s order must be examined for legality.

Speaking with Mr. Jeffries at Friday’s press conference, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, New York Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the order could hurt students.

“It’s mind-boggling that if the intent is to suppress the ability of our young people to be proficient in other languages, I think that that doesn’t make us competitive as a country,” he said. “I think we should be encouraging our kids and as many people as possible to be proficient in more than one language so that we can be competitive worldwide.”\