Washington D.C. – Today, the Wall Street Journal published an exclusive story stating that Trump is planning to sign an Executive Order to make English the official language of the United States. The U.S. has never had an official language in its nearly 250-year-old history. In fact, there are over 350 languages spoken throughout the country, including some of the most widely spoken languages such as Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Arabic.
Anabel Mendoza, Communications Director of United We Dream, said:
“We mean this with all disrespect, no gracias. We see exactly what Trump is trying to do by continuing to put a target on the backs of Black and brown immigrants and communities who speak different languages and we won’t tolerate it. Trump will try to use this executive order as a crutch to attack schools providing curriculum to immigrant students in other languages, gut programs and roles that help to promote inclusive language access, and embolden immigration agents to single out and harass individuals who speak a certain way.
This is the time to show up for immigrants. We call on elected officials at every level and our allies to publicly declare your support for immigrant communities and all language we speak. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: immigrants are here to stay. No matter how hard Trump tries, he can’t erase us.”
