President Trump’s executive order on March 1, 2025, designated English as the official language of the United States. This overreach of power marks a tremendous step back for the country as a so-called melting pot of diversity.
First, whether or not the United States should have an official language has been debated in Congress for decades, and a bill designating one as such has never passed in either the House or the Senate. That being said, the process of debating and voting on a bill of that nature is an integral component of the democratic systems we have in place, and no President has the power to take that away.
Unfortunately, Trump is no stranger to bending the law — in fact, legal challenges have been made against nine of his executive orders as of March 10, just fifty days into his presidency. The challenges invoke a variety of federal laws that Trump may be in violation of, which has some people pausing to question how much power the Executive Branch is supposed to yield. After all, no other President enacted this many executive orders in such a short time, each ranging in scope of the population and demographics they affect.
The truth is, the power to make executive orders is not one written in the Constitution. Originally, the Executive Branch was created to enforce the law, not to enact it. This is not to say that no President before Trump has made this many executive orders — it’s been rare to see less than a hundred made throughout a presidency since the 1890s — but it is a power that has been defined over time and has its limitations. Historically, executive orders have been used to manage the enforcement of existing laws, in accordance with the powers granted to the President by the Constitution.
Therefore, when the President enacts an executive order that designates English as the nation’s official language, it raises some red flags. This is essentially a law that did not pass through Congress, circumventing the checks and balances that once defined our government.
However, the abuse of power is not the most damaging aspect of this order. The policy rescinds Executive Order 13166, titled “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency,” which Bill Clinton signed in 2000. This order acknowledged that people with limited English proficiency (LEP) should be protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin. In an effort to correct this, Executive Order 13166 required every federal agency to develop an updated language access policy to ensure that people with LEP could access their services. Now, government agencies may choose whether they want to provide translation services or not.
The previously held policy meant that every American had equal access to the services funded by their taxpayer dollars. If the resources to make this possible already exist, why take them away? Any decision by a federal agency to remove their translation services would be blatantly discriminating against non-English speakers.
Though President Trump’s executive order is intended to create “a unified and cohesive society,” to do so would contradict American ideals of diversity and inclusion. According to a report by the US Census, around 68 million Americans speak a language other than English. The most common among these languages is Spanish, followed by Chinese. Being able to express oneself freely in speech is a vital principle written in our Constitution, and the ability to do so in any language is implicit in that standard.
As a native New Yorker, I’ve always appreciated the diversity of perspectives around me. My father grew up in New York City, and living just an hour north of it, my family visits often. The city is home to more than eight million residents, 2.5 million of whom have LEP. I recently learned that New Yorkers collectively speak over 800 languages. At first, I was surprised, but then I thought about how many times I have walked down the streets and overheard conversations in tongues I had never heard before, gathering fragments of sentences whose meanings eluded me.
Isn’t that a beautiful thing?
To hear parents pass on their native languages to their children, to become familiar with different speech patterns, to wonder what differs in their grammar from mine — these are privileges I do not take for granted.
And what about the millions of Americans who have blended English with other languages? The Spanglish, Franglais, and Black English speakers who artfully code-switch in their daily lives? Are we to forget their contributions to establishing a “unified society,” one that celebrates diversity of backgrounds and finds new ways to connect as a community?
Though mandated (until now), the design of language access policies have been left up to individual agencies and regulated by the states. A great example of this is my home state of New York: Since it is so linguistically diverse, its policy is to publish all vital documents in its top twelve most spoken languages, plus American Sign Language (ASL). This ensures that every resident can utilize important public services.
There is no single language that defines the United States. Uplifting the manifold identities that exist in our country is just one reason why having language access policies is so important.
Besides marking an astonishing overreach of presidential power, Trump’s executive order is an open invitation for federal agencies to discriminate against non-English speakers. My hope is that officials see this for what it is and choose to provide essential services to all Americans, regardless of the language they speak.