➤ On Saturday, President Trump signed an order making English the official language of the United States. Some groups have welcomed the order. Others are upset about it.
On Saturday, President Trump signed an order making English the official language of the United States. Some groups have welcomed the order. Others are upset about it.
English is already the official language in over 30 US states. But the US has never had an official language.
English is spoken in over 75% of American homes. But there are millions and millions of people who speak other languages, such as Spanish or Chinese. Currently, many businesses and government organizations offer information in other languages to help these people.
An official language is one that is used for government business. Mr. Trump’s order gets rid of a rule made in 2000, which said government agencies had to help people who didn’t speak English. The new order lets government groups decide for themselves if they want to provide services in other languages.
Mr. Trump says that making English the official language will help government work better, and will help bring people together. Groups that have been pushing for this change celebrated Mr. Trump’s order.
But many people see the order very differently. They think it is meant to make people who speak Spanish and other languages feel unwelcome in the US. They say the move is unfair and will hurt people who don’t speak English well.
The new order is especially unpopular in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a US territory where 94% of the people speak Spanish.
Mr. Trump has long supported making English the official language of the US. The Spanish version of the White House website was taken down during Mr. Trump’s first term. Ex-President Joe Biden brought it back when he took office. Mr. Trump’s current White House website does not have a Spanish version.