President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order declaring English as the official language of the United States, Reuters reported quoting a source. The timing of the order remains unclear, but the move was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
While the US has never had an official language at the federal level, debates over language use have persisted for years, particularly in states with significant Spanish-speaking populations. The use of Spanish in public spaces has often been a point of contention, with some arguing for English-only policies.
In Texas, for instance, controversy erupted in 2011 when a state senator demanded that an immigrant rights activist speak English instead of Spanish during a legislative hearing. The incident reignited discussions about Texas’s historical ties to Mexico and the Spanish Empire.
For many older Mexican-American Texans, the debate is especially painful, as they recall being punished for speaking Spanish in schools during the 1950s.