The Trump administration has directed US federal agencies to prioritise English in government operations and restrict the use of foreign-language materials, in a move that could affect more than 27 million people with limited English proficiency in the country.“Agencies should strive to operate solely in English,” the Justice Department said in fresh guidance issued on Thursday, according to a New York Post report. The directive asks agencies to provide a wide range of government materials exclusively in English, including official correspondence, regulations, public announcements, applications, websites, educational resources and internal communications.The guidance also extends to artificial intelligence tools used by federal agencies, marking a broader push to make English the default language across government operations.The latest directive seeks to implement President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order that designated English as the official language of the US. The order reversed a decades-old federal policy aimed at improving access to government services for people who have limited English proficiency.While Trump’s original executive order did not require agencies to discontinue existing multilingual services, the new Justice Department guidance encourages them to operate primarily in English. It says agencies should provide services in other languages only when required by law or necessary to fulfil their missions, including in areas such as national security and healthcare.
More than 27 million people could be affected
The changes could have implications for more than 27 million people in the US who have limited ability to speak, read or write English.Some federal agencies have already begun removing non-English resources. The General Services Administration (GSA), earlier this week, shut down the Spanish-language version of USA.gov, the government’s official information portal, and began redirecting visitors to its English-language version. The Spanish website was first launched in 2003.The Department of Housing and Urban Development had also moved over the summer to remove non-English languages from its services, according to the report.Jacob Hofstetter, a policy analyst specialising in language access at the Migration Policy Institute, warned that the latest guidance could accelerate the removal of multilingual government resources.“I would be surprised if we didn’t see more agencies taking down multilingual content or trying to reduce the level of language access they provide,” he said.The Justice Department has invited public comments on the memorandum until January 11. However, a department spokesperson told The Washington Sun that the guidance was final and already in effect. The memorandum was issued to federal agencies in September and made publicly available on Thursday.
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