Only English please: Trump’s language order isn’t just symbolism

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. US President Donald Trump’s recent declaration of English as the official language of the US may seem relatively benign. Most residents already speak English and a majority of immigrants are eager to learn it.

Under most presidents, such a directive might have been largely symbolic. After all, 32 states already have English as their official language. But Trump isn’t most presidents.

He has demonized immigrants for over a decade, making them scapegoats for nearly every societal ill. In his first term, he complained that too many of them came from “[bleep] countries." At a campaign event last March, he decried those who speak languages “that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a very horrible thing." In his address to Congress last week, he touted his new executive order and accused legal immigration of resulting in “beautiful towns destroyed." Now Trump would have us believe that this new policy will “make the United States a shared home and empower new citizens to achieve the American dream" and that his order “recognizes and celebrates the long tradition of multilingual American citizens who have learnt English and passed it to their children." There is little doubt of the benefits of learning English as rapidly as possible for newcomers.

But learning another language is difficult—more so for some than others. The transition is eased with resources while learners get up to speed: English language classes for adults, important documents printed in native languages, bilingual education for children. This order does nothing of the sort.