WASHINGTON, DC (KYW Newsradio) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States, according to the White House.
The order will allow government agencies and organizations that receive federal funding to choose whether to continue to offer documents and services in languages other than English, according to a fact sheet about the impending order.
Trump had been expected to sign the order Friday. But by Friday night, the White House had not announced the order had been signed and did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The executive order will rescind a mandate from former President Bill Clinton that required the government and organizations that received federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.
Designating English as the national language “promotes unity, establishes efficiency in government operations, and creates a pathway for civic engagement,” according to the White House.
More than 30 states have already passed laws designating English as their official language, according to U.S. English, a group that advocates for making English the official language in the United States.
Catherine Miller Wilson, executive director of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Pennsylvania, also known as HIAS, which supports low-income immigrants of all backgrounds, says English language insistence is counterproductive.
“Every other country in the world, their residents are usually at least bilingual, if not multilingual, and that's simply because they're surrounded by other countries that speak other languages,” Wilson said.
She says the early 19th century saw a series of anti-immigrant, anti-world moves by the federal government, which led to the 1924 National Origins Act and eventually the Great Depression.
“It's just essentially xenophobia… Passing an executive order that essentially gives license for everyone to be ignorant is not a way to protect Americans, to ensure that Americans will grow and be innovative and be intelligent and be respected.”
For decades, lawmakers in Congress have introduced legislation to designate English as the official language of the U.S., but those efforts have not succeeded.
Within hours of Trump's inauguration last month, the new administration took down the Spanish language version of the official White House website.
Hispanic advocacy groups and others expressed confusion and frustration at the change. The White House said at the time it was committed to bringing the Spanish language version of the website back online. As of Friday, it was still not restored.
The White House did not immediately respond to a message about whether that would happen.
Trump shut down the Spanish version of the website during his first term. It was restored when President Joe Biden was inaugurated.