Reps. Chu, Meng, Vargas, and Colleagues Raise Alarm and Demand Answers on Trump Administration’s Language Access Roll Backs
Reps. Chu, Meng, Vargas, and Colleagues Raise Alarm and Demand Answers on Trump Administration’s Language Access Roll Backs
WASHINGTON, DC – Reps. Judy Chu (CA-28), Grace Meng (NY-06), and Juan Vargas (CA-52) led 58 of their colleagues in a letter to the Trump administration demanding answers regarding its rollback of language access across federal agencies. The letter raises alarm over new Department of Justice (DOJ) guidance implementing Executive Order (EO) 14224, which seeks to declare English as the official language of the United States and rescinds EO 13166, a decades-long policy that established meaningful language accessibility across federal agencies and funding recipients.
The DOJ memo instructs agencies to phase out “unnecessary multilingual offerings” and instead consider English-only services, redirect funding for translation services to “English proficiency and assimilation” programs, and immediately withdraw all public-facing materials related to language access. The DOJ has already eliminated several of its language access resources — including LEP.gov, a website that provided data, and best practices to agencies and funded entities on effectively communicating with individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). Additionally, as a result of this memo, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has already threatened to eliminate non-English language tax services such as translated documents and over-the-phone and in-person translation services.
In their letter to President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Members write, “President Trump does not have the authority to declare English as the national language. The issue of a national language has been debated in Congress, and the legislative branch has not made such an establishment… The memo attempts to roll back decades of progress and weakens the legal framework to combat national origin discrimination by treating language access as an unnecessary privilege rather than a civil right.”
Stories from communities nationwide, including in California, Kentucky, New Mexico, and New York, prove that translation and interpretation services can mean the difference between life and death.
The letter concludes with the Members demanding accountability and answers from the Trump administration. This letter builds upon the previous oversight letter sent by Reps. Chu, Meng, and 54 House Democratic colleagues on April 11, 2025 regarding the initial release of President Trump’s EO 14224.
This letter is endorsed by: National Immigration Law Center (NILC), Asian & Pacific Islander Health Forum, Asian Americans Advancing Justice- Southern California (AJSOCAL), Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), Stop AAPI Hate, AAPI Equity Alliance, South Asian Network, National Hispanic Health Foundation, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Justice in Aging, AIDS Foundation Chicago, Hawai'i Health & Harm Reduction Center (HHHRC), CenterLink, Hep Free Hawai'i, Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), Chinatown Service Center, Thai Community Development Center, Pacific Asian Counseling Services (PACS), Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project (MICOP), CalCenter, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), National Association of the Deaf (NAD), UnidosUS, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), Respond Crisis, Disability Rights California, South Asian Public Health Association (SAPHA), National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA), Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces, and the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
Click here to access the full letter in English. One pagers with a modified version of this press release can also be found in English, Spanish (Español),Simplified Chinese (简体中文), Traditional Chinese繁體中文 Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt), and Korean (한국인).
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