The Trump administration is doubling down on its push to make English the official language of the federal government — telling US agencies to ditch foreign-language materials in a sweeping new directive.
“Agencies should strive to operate solely in English,” the Justice Department declared in new guidance issued Thursday, reinforcing President Trump’s executive order designating English as the nation’s official language.
The directive urges federal agencies to provide a wide range of government materials exclusively in English, including official correspondence, regulations, public announcements, applications, websites, educational resources and even internal communications and artificial intelligence tools.
The guidance marks a significant expansion of Trump’s March 2025 executive order, which reversed a decades-old federal policy aimed at improving access to government services for Americans with limited English proficiency.
While Trump’s original order did not require agencies to eliminate existing multilingual services, the new DOJ guidance makes it clear that English should be the default.
The change could affect more than 27 million people in the US who have a limited ability to speak, read, or write English.
The DOJ said US agencies should continue offering translations only when required by law or deemed necessary to carry out their mission, citing national security and health-care services as an example.
The guidance encourages agencies to identify and eliminate multilingual programs that do not meet those criteria.
Several departments have already begun making changes. The Department of Housing and Urban Development removed non-English languages from its services in August, while the departments of Homeland Security, education and treasury have begun scrubbing foreign-language materials from their websites.
The General Services Administration also shuttered its Spanish-language version of USA.gov this week, redirecting visitors to its English-language site. The Spanish version of the government portal had been available since 2003.
“I would be surprised if we didn’t see more agencies taking down multilingual content or trying to reduce the level of language access they provide,” predicted Jacob Hofstetter, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, to the Washington Sun.
Michael Mulé, a civil-rights lawyer and former DOJ civil-rights official, warned that limiting translations could undermine government operations — including efforts to gather information from the public.
“I want the FBI tip line to be accessible to someone that has a tip on a criminal,” Mulé said. “I want someone to understand how to file their taxes the right way.”
The DOJ published the guidance in the Federal Register on Thursday and is accepting public comments through Jan. 11.
In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed an order requiring federal agencies to improve access for people with limited English proficiency.
There is no blanket federal law requiring every agency to provide services in multiple languages, though certain programs have their own language-access requirements.
States and other entities receiving federal funding also remain subject to civil protections that can require language assistance.
