President Trump took executive action to make English the official language of the United States, marking the first time in American history that the country will have an official language. 

More than 350 languages are spoken in the U.S., but Mr. Trump’s order, which he signed on Saturday, puts English head and shoulders above the rest. The White House sees the move as one that promotes unity, saying it is “in America’s best interest for the federal government to designate one — and only one — official language.”

“In welcoming new Americans, a policy of encouraging the learning and adoption of our national language will make the United States a shared home and empower new citizens to achieve the American dream,” the order reads. 

A fact sheet disseminated Friday on the order noted that more than 180 other countries have official languages, marking the U.S. as an outlier. 

The president’s order contended that a nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society” and that the country would be strengthened by citizens who can “freely exchange ideas in one shared language.”

Mr. Trump’s move also rescinded a mandate from President Clinton in 2000 that required any entity that receives federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.

“This order recognizes and celebrates the long tradition of multilingual American citizens who have learned English and passed it to their children for generations to come,” the order reads.

The Spanish version of the White House website has already vanished, a move Mr. Trump made his first term as well, before President Biden reinstated it.

“It is a long overdue, welcomed move that today President Donald Trump repealed the Clinton-era Executive Order 13166 and replaced it with a new executive order stipulating English as the official language of government,” said acting ProEnglish Executive Director Stephanie White in a statement.
“In light of this overwhelming national sentiment, the president properly responded to the disconnect that undermined America’s traditional process of immigrant assimilation. Every American should be proud of their national origin, race, native language and customs. But without public policies that reinforce the English tie that unites us, multilingual diversity could well become the undoing of our country.”

On the other side, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said Mr. Trump’s order must be examined for legality.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat, New York Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the order could hurt students.

“It’s mind-boggling that if the intent is to suppress the ability of our young people to be proficient in other languages, I think that that doesn’t make us competitive as a country,” he said. “I think we should be encouraging our kids and as many people as possible to be proficient in more than one language so that we can be competitive worldwide.”

• Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.

• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.