On Saturday, President Donald Trump declared English the official language of the United States, claiming it would foster unity in a nation known for its global immigration.
According to a Trump executive order released by the White House, it is “long past time” for English to be designated as the official language of the country.
“A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language,” says the document.
The directive nullifies a 1990s presidential directive issued by then-President Bill Clinton mandating that government agencies and organisations that receive federal funding help non-native English speakers.
The new document says organisations will continue to have the freedom to determine how much assistance they provide in languages other than English.
“Nothing in this order… requires or directs any change in the services provided by any agency,” the executive order reads.
Additionally, it states that agency leaders have the authority to decide what is required “to fulfil their respective agencies’ mission and efficiently provide government services to the American people.”
To establish his right-wing mark on the nation, Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders in his first weeks in office.
But a lot of his directives are being contested in court, especially those that aim to revoke congressionally approved federal dollars.
There are over 350 languages spoken in the United States, according to the White House, but the order states that English has been the official language of the country “since the founding of our Republic” and that “our nation’s historic governing documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, have all been written in English.”
In 2019, the US government reported that about 68 million Americans speak a language other than English at home.
More than 40 million Americans are thought to speak Spanish at home, despite English being the language of the vast majority of the population.
The diverse linguistic landscape of the United States includes numerous Native American languages in addition to other immigration groups like Chinese and Vietnamese.
