According to a White House official, the order would overturn a 2000 mandate from President Clinton requiring federally funded entities to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.
The Washington Times reported that the U.S. will formally designate an official language for the first time in its 249-year history.
According to a White House summary of the order obtained by The Wall Street Journal, agencies will still have the option to provide documents and services in languages other than English. The summary states that the purpose of establishing English as the national language is to promote unity, improve government efficiency, and create a pathway to civic engagement.
Cracking down on illegal immigration has been a central focus of Trump’s presidency, with his administration promising the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.
During the recent presidential campaign, Trump warned that non-English-speaking migrants were being “dropped” into communities like Springfield, Ohio. He also expressed concerns that migrant students who don’t speak English are struggling to communicate in classrooms.
“We have languages coming into our country. We don’t have one instructor in our entire nation that can speak that language,” Trump said last year. “These are languages—it’s the craziest thing—they have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a very horrible thing.”
In a 2015 presidential debate, Trump criticized former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish during his campaign. “This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish,” Trump said at the time.
Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration removed the Spanish-language version of the White House website. Additionally, the official Spanish-language social media account on X, @LaCasaBlanca, has been discontinued.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 78% of Americans speak only English at home. However, millions primarily speak other languages, including Spanish, Chinese, and Tagalog, while dozens of Native American languages are also in use across the country.
More than 30 states have enacted laws designating English as their official language, the WSJ added.
Since the civil rights movement of the 1960s, various laws have been passed to ensure services and equal opportunities for non-English speakers in the U.S. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress have repeatedly attempted—but failed—to pass legislation making English the national language.
Vice President J.D. Vance previously introduced the English Language Unity Act during his tenure as a U.S. senator from Ohio. Co-sponsored by Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), the bill proposed requiring the federal government to conduct all official business in English and establishing a language-testing standard as part of the citizenship process, the WSJ reported.
Meanwhile, the president continues to remake the entirety of the federal government. Earlier this week, Trump said that at least a million federal workers are “on the bubble” because they haven’t replied to an email asking them to explain why they should keep their jobs.
During his first Cabinet meeting of this second term, Elon Musk, an adviser to Trump and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was asked about the emails sent.
“We’re going to send another email,” Musk said. “But our goal is not to be capricious or unfair. We want to give people every opportunity to send an email. And the email could simply be ‘What I’m working on is too sensitive or classified to describe.’ Like, literally just that would be sufficient. You know, I think this is just common sense.”
Moments later, Trump interjected and said the consequences could indeed be more dire for the non-respondents.
“Those million people that haven’t responded though, Elon, they are on the bubble,” Trump said. “You know, I wouldn’t say that we’re thrilled about it. You know, they haven’t responded. Now, maybe they don’t exist. Maybe we’re paying people that don’t exist. Don’t forget we just got here. This group just got here. But those people are on the bubble, as they say. Maybe they’re gonna be gone.”
