Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order establishing English as the official language of the United States. Now, he is requiring English usage in housing assistance programs and some other benefits programs. And as usual, Democrats and liberals are outraged.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a federal agency that provides housing assistance to low-income Americans through programs such as Section 8 rental vouchers, public housing units managed by local authorities, emergency aid for the homeless, first-time homebuyer support, and community development projects.
HUD is adopting an English-only policy for nearly all of its services, following President Trump’s March 2025 executive order that made English the official language of the United States for the first time in the nation’s history. The order revoked President Clinton’s 2000 directive requiring federal agencies and federally funded programs to provide language assistance for people with limited English proficiency (LEP).
While it does not override civil rights protections such as Title VI or mandate the elimination of multilingual services, it gives agencies discretion to reduce or end them. At HUD, this means removing non-English materials from websites and offices, ending translation services in more than 200 languages, and requiring all official communications to be in English.
Across government agencies, exceptions will remain where legally required, such as under the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Violence Against Women Act. Supporters argue the policy will save taxpayer money, while critics warn it rolls back efforts to expand access for LEP individuals. The rules take effect immediately, with the Justice Department expected to issue further guidance within six months.
On July 14, the Department of Justice issued guidance to implement the order, announcing plans to rescind prior LEP guidance, suspend public-facing language access resources, and phase out “unnecessary multilingual offerings.”
Agencies were encouraged to consider English-only services, redirect translation funds toward English education programs, and include disclaimers that English is the official version of federal documents. Supporters say the policy promotes unity and efficiency, while critics warn it could limit access for more than 25 million LEP individuals to essential services such as healthcare, education, and voting. Advocacy groups describe it as discriminatory and a major departure from decades of language access protections.
The policy aligns with the Trump administration’s broader immigration agenda, but its full implementation across federal agencies will not be clear until the DOJ issues updated guidance within 180 days.
Under the new policy, all federal agencies and federally funded programs, including Social Security, FEMA, HUD, the CDC, and court and education services are affected. Agencies are not required to eliminate multilingual services altogether, but they now have discretion to reduce or discontinue them.
The DOJ guidance calls for reviewing and phasing out unnecessary translation services, suspending prior language-access resources, and issuing new rules within 180 days. It also recommends agencies use cost-saving technology like AI translation and include disclaimers that English-language versions are the official record.
The memo emphasizes that the shift is intended to promote national unity and government efficiency while giving agencies flexibility to maintain essential multilingual services when necessary.
Most Americans recognize English as the country’s de facto language, and many are surprised to learn that there is no official language of the United States. It is such a common trivia question that a large percentage of people likely get it wrong. Against this backdrop, liberals and Democrats have railed against President Trump’s decision to formally designate English as the official language, ironically, doing so in English.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) suggested the order may be unconstitutional and predicted lawsuits. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, argued the policy would undercut U.S. competitiveness and delivered the Democrats’ Spanish-language rebuttal to Trump’s address to underscore his point.
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus called the move “a thinly veiled attempt to allow federal agencies to discriminate against immigrants.”
Advocacy groups also joined the opposition: United We Dream said it unfairly targets immigrant communities; LULAC claimed it contradicts First Amendment protections; TESOL International Association pledged to petition Congress in defense of linguistic diversity; and the Hispanic Federation emphasized the nation’s immigrant roots.
Opponents are claiming that the new policy violates the Constitution or civil rights. They also express fears that limiting multilingual services will harm immigrants and weaken U.S. competitiveness.
Yet the Constitution contains no prohibition against establishing an official language. Multilingual services are only necessary if immigrants refuse to learn English, a problem easily solved through incentivization. The competitiveness argument also falls flat. English is already the global language of business, science, and technology.
The rest of the world is racing to learn it because they believe it makes them more competitive. Apparently, liberals think the rest of the world is wrong.
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