House Democrats are demanding answers on what they’re calling a “reckless decision to weaken language accessibility” by President Donald Trump. Fifty-six members, spearheaded by Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus leadership, asked in a letter how Trump’s executive order designating English the official language of the United States could impact Americans’ ability to access key government services.
“It’s outrageous … no federal law exists that gives the president that authority to designate English as the official language,” said Rep. Judy Chu, who led the letter sent Saturday to Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi. The letter was first obtained by NOTUS.
Trump signed an executive order in March designating English as the official language of the United States. Although the order does not stop federal agencies from providing resources in other languages, the White House and some agencies have cut some non-English language programs, prompting concern about further limits to accessibility.
The members posed several questions about how the executive order has impacted people who have limited English proficiency.
The letter includes five questions for Trump and Bondi, including what impacts the administration considered before rolling back a Clinton-era regulation mandating that federal agencies make resources available for individuals with limited English proficiency. The Democrats who signed the letter also pressed Trump and Bondi on whether limited English proficiency communities have reported any difficulties because of the executive order.
“Language barriers can pose a significant barrier for individuals attempting to integrate into our society,” the letter reads. “All Americans deserve to access the services and resources their taxes are paying for without barriers based solely on language proficiency.”
The Trump order does not bar federal agencies from providing resources or materials in other languages, and web pages offering translated documents and multilingual resources are still available at most federal agencies. But, among other developments, the White House no longer offers a Spanish language version of its website and federal agencies have cut back on services for non-English speakers. For example, the National Weather Service no longer provides Spanish translations during emergency weather events.
As part of the rollback of regulations established during the Clinton administration in the 1990s, Trump also directed that documents explaining how federal agencies could comply with federal civil rights laws be removed. One of the other questions in the letter addresses this retraction, and asks Trump and Bondi to explain how the administration’s order would “impact recipients’ ability to comply with federal language accessibility laws.”
In a statement in response to this story, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said the department “has vigorously defended President Trump’s executive actions, including the order to Designate English as the Official Language of the United States, and will continue to do so.”
Jacob Hofstetter, a policy analyst who researches language accessibility at the Migration Policy Institute, told NOTUS last month that removing guidance about federal civil rights law would make it harder for agencies to comply.
“This is 25 years of experience that the federal government has had responding to people with limited English proficiency,” Chu told NOTUS about the rollback of the Clinton era executive order. “This rescission will have dire effects on these communities across the United States.”
The letter also asked Trump and Bondi about the cancellation of federal contracts that impact language resources. NOTUS reported last month that the Department of Government Efficiency canceled at least 10 language-related federal agency contracts around the same time Trump signed the order, including ones that offered native language translation services in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and translation services for complaints submitted to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Those cancellations were not directly tied to the executive order. But members asked Trump and Bondi to disclose whether the administration has plans to restore services that were provided by the now-canceled contracts and whether DOGE plans to cancel additional language-related contracts.
At least one other federal agency translation contract — one that provided translation services for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — was canceled after NOTUS’ reporting last month.
Many of the members who signed the letter have historically advocated for more robust resources for non-English speakers. Democratic lawmakers from California, Texas and New York — the three states with the highest share of individuals with limited English proficiency individuals — are among the signees.
“Many of us represent districts with huge numbers of limited English proficient people,” Chu said. “We do expect answers, but also, of course, we just have to draw awareness to this.”
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Shifra Dayak is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.