Trump to sign executive order making English the country’s official language

This article is part of a partnership between The Mendocino Voice and nonprofit newsroom EdSource to bring relevant education-related news to Mendocino County readers. Learn more about EdSource here.

WASHINGTON, 3/1/25 – In a marked break with tradition, President Trump is planning to sign an executive order that would make English the official language of the United States for the first time, according to White House officials, the Wall Street Journal reported.

In its nearly 250-year history, the country has never had an official language stipulated at the federal level. Hundreds of languages are spoken here, reflective of the country’s long and storied history of welcoming immigrants from around the globe.

The executive order would nullify a federal mandate issued by former President Bill Clinton that agencies and other recipients of federal funding should provide language assistance to non-English speakers, officials said.

However, agencies will still be able to provide documents and services in other languages, according to a White House summary of the order viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The goal of making English the national language is to promote unity, establish efficiency and provide a pathway to civic engagement, officials said.

Cracking down on illegal immigration and promising the largest mass deportation operation in American history are among the key tenets of the Trump presidency.

During the campaign, the president warned that migrants who don’t speak English were being “dropped” into communities such as Springfield, Ohio, raising concerns that students could not 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,” as Trump put it last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. “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.”

This article first appeared at EdSource here.