President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order making English the official language of the United States.
Though English has always been the de facto language of the U.S., the country’s rich immigrant history has led to hundreds of languages being spoken by the population and taught in schools. The order will mark the first time the U.S. has set an official language in its 250-year history.
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The order, reported by the Wall Street Journal, will ostensibly roll back a rule adopted by former President Bill Clinton that mandated the federal government and private sector groups receiving federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.
White House officials said the order will not specifically block the federal government and private sector groups from continuing to provide non-English language assistance and is meant to promote unity and help facilitate immigrant integration into U.S. society.
The order also follows legislation from more than 30 states that made English their official language.
Trump does not have an executive order signing ceremony on his public schedule for Friday, and White House officials told the Washington Examiner that the president would likely sign the order on his flight to Florida on Friday evening.
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Trump, who launched his plan to deport all illegal immigrants after he entered office in January, has long tied language to his pet political matters.
“We have languages coming into our country. We don’t have one instructor in our entire nation that can speak that language,” Trump said on the 2024 campaign trail. “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.”
