Trump to Sign Executive Order Making English Official U.S. Language

President Trump is planning to sign an executive order that would for the first time make English the official language of the U.S., according to White House officials.

In its nearly 250-year history, the U.S. has never had a national language at the federal level. Hundreds of languages are spoken in the U.S., the byproduct of the country’s long history of taking in immigrants from around the world.

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

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

Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a cornerstone of his presidency and has promised the largest mass deportation operation in American history.

During the recent presidential campaign, the president warned that migrants who don’t speak English were being “dropped” into communities such as Springfield, Ohio, and he raised concerns that migrant students who don’t speak English were unable to communicate in classrooms.

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, most Americans—more than 78%—speak only English at home. But millions of Americans primarily speak other languages, such as Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog. {snip}

More than 30 states have passed legislation designating English as their official language.

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