The Trump administration is intensifying its campaign to make English the federal government’s official language, directing agencies to scale back or eliminate materials published in other languages.
“Agencies should strive to operate solely in English,” the Justice Department said in guidance released Thursday. The directive reinforces President Trump’s executive order naming English the nation’s official language.
Under the guidance, federal agencies are urged to use English exclusively across a broad range of government communications, including official correspondence, regulations, public notices, applications, websites, educational materials, internal messages and artificial intelligence tools.
The policy represents a major expansion of Trump’s March 2025 executive order, which overturned a decades-old federal approach designed to improve access to government services for people with limited English proficiency.
Although the original order did not explicitly direct agencies to end existing multilingual services, the new Justice Department guidance establishes English as the preferred standard.
More than 27 million people in the United States have limited ability to speak, read or write English, meaning the change could affect a significant share of the population.
The DOJ said agencies should continue providing translations when required by law or necessary to fulfill their missions, pointing to national security and health-care services as examples.
It also encouraged agencies to review and eliminate multilingual programs that do not meet those standards.
Some departments have already started making changes. The Department of Housing and Urban Development removed non-English options from its services in August, while the departments of Homeland Security, Education and Treasury have begun removing foreign-language materials from their websites.
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The General Services Administration shut down the Spanish-language version of USA.gov this week, directing users to the English site instead. The Spanish 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,” Jacob Hofstetter, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told the Washington Sun.
Michael Mulé, a civil-rights attorney and former Justice Department civil-rights official, cautioned that restricting translation services could hinder government operations, including efforts to collect 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 Justice Department published the guidance in the Federal Register on Thursday and will accept public comments through Jan. 11.
In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton signed an executive order directing federal agencies to improve access for people with limited English proficiency.
No broad federal law requires every agency to offer services in multiple languages, although individual programs may have their own language-access obligations.
States and other organizations that receive federal funding also remain subject to civil-rights protections that may require them to provide language assistance.
