On March 1, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring English as the official language of the United States. Now, government agencies and organizations receiving federal funds may choose not to offer services in any language other than English, AP News reported.
Now, who will benefit from this? No one. This policy will create significant barriers for non-English speakers essential to the American workforce, affecting their access to critical services. This move may also lead to increased discrimination and xenophobia, which will help no one in a nation that is so diverse.
The United States prides itself on being the best and having millions of people migrating to their country for better lives. Yet, the policies in the US are increasingly being passed to disadvantage non-American-born people.
Supporters of the executive order believe that establishing English as the official language promotes national unity and streamlines governmental operations. But how can we have national unity over the English language when over 68 million Americans speak a language other than English at home? How can a nation so diverse be united by not celebrating its differences but trying to become the white ideal?
With over 350 languages spoken in the US, this policy will not unite us; it will divide us between those who support and oppose this decision. The US’ diversity is a strength, not a weakness that must be fixed. Diversity should be embraced rather than suppressed. This policy will negatively affect those who don’t speak fluent English but are citizens and intend to live a civic life and access necessary services.
While the intention behind making English the official language may be to promote unity, it does nothing for the American people. This policy will impact accessibility, discrimination, and the marginalization of non-English-speaking communities all around the country, not to mention the American workforce, which has millions of non-English-speaking workers.
What happens to industries in the US that are made up of primarily non-English speakers? The construction, health, and education industries all have a significant percentage of their workforce composed of non-English speakers, so what happens when they are disadvantaged and unable to do their jobs properly? The right might argue that they were taking American jobs anyway, but that’s just not true; most of the jobs done by immigrants are jobs that Americans do not want to do but need to have done.
So, along with the executive order to change the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America,” we have another useless executive order that will not benefit anyone.
