From an Emergency Management standpoint, President Trump’s March 1, 2025 Executive Order (EO) designating English as the official language of the United States is bad business for the protection of American citizens. Simply put, if you cannot understand the language used in a governmental crisis communication before, during, or after a disaster — your own life is in peril.
And while the EO specifically notes that “nothing in this order, however, requires or directs any change in the services provided by any agency,” it goes on to then note that Agency heads should make decisions as they deem necessary to fulfill their respective agencies’ mission and efficiently provide Government services to the American people. The EO notes that “Agency heads are not required to amend, remove, or otherwise stop production of documents, products, or other services prepared or offered in languages other than English.” While that may sound like a continued benefit to things like federal healthcare support in languages other than English, FEMA disaster assistance in braille, and so forth — the reality is the White House has signaled it is placing all its bets on written and spoken English only — and expects others to follow suit.
Here’s the big one
You know those government warning alerts you get on your cell phone? Well, all of those alerts have types (weather, abducted child, etc.) and they can originate from a number of sources, such as local police and emergency management groups. They link together into a common platform which also can connect to the radio and television emergency broadcasts. This platform is called IPAWS.
And if you get too many of these types of alerts, you can turn them off (btw, we do not recommend doing that — you will miss out on life-saving local intelligence, such as earthquake and tornado warnings, chemical spills, and more). There is, however, one type of alert you cannot opt-out of: and that is the “Presidential Alerts” type issued by “the President of the United States or the Administrator of FEMA”, used only for national emergencies. Think of a really worst-case scenario such as a nuclear attack for this one, since this category of alerts has never been used, except for testing/exercising. The time available to distance yourself and your family to then shield away from harm, is quite limited. Government will probably only get one chance to get this message out far and wide.
What actions are needed to be performed by the public for their own life safety during a nuclear attack is not necessarily intuitive. This is partly why New York City began an informational campaign back in 2022:
https://youtu.be/N-5d7V4Sbqk?si=p04ppEFOTKPzIn3p
Anyone want to guess what singular language those will probably occur in now?
Watch what they do, not what they say
Keep an eye out for how American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters are being utilized by U.S. federal authorities. All the individuals in the Executive Office of the President and its components are excluded from the “Agency” exemption above. That can mean no more sign-language interpreters at outdoor events at the White House, for example. Or at live press briefings.
And while many agencies were very quick to pull non-English language material off their websites, they have been slow — if not, absent altogether — in restoring those items which were so quickly censored. The non-English (with the exception as of this writing, Spanish) disaster preparedness material pulled from Ready.gov is one prime example. And many, many non-federal governmental and non-governmental organizations base their own support for their constituents’ crucial preparedness information needs, on links to Ready.gov today. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars to have to recreate this material in every state, territory, and local jurisdiction, especially where there are non-federal laws requiring it.
And note in the new March 1, 2025 EO, it was specifically ordered that in rescinding President Clinton’s EO 13166, that “The Attorney General shall rescind any policy guidance documents issued pursuant to Executive Order 13166 and provide updated guidance, consistent with applicable law.” That — coupled with the new Attorney General’s singular focus on ‘violent criminals’ — will probably mean no enforcement actions against agencies at any governmental level, who ‘over’ comply with this EO, and stick with English only.
FEMA was recently updating policies and training to be translated into Spanish — significantly benefiting Puerto Rico — and their own forays (during President Biden’s administration) into other languages from Alaska has many times missed its mark. The USDHS created an Indigenous Languages Plan in February of 2024 — but it was based predominately on the now rescinded EO 13166. The tone of this new EO effectively lets all the agencies off the hook for serving disabled and non-English speaking Americans.
When Americans themselves cannot act in ways that benefit their own life safety around emergencies and disasters, simply because they cannot understand and comprehend the crisis messages being communicated by government, that poses a national security risk. The start of the EO states that “From the founding of our Republic, English has been used as our national language.” Discounting the f’s and s’s switch-ups from the historically British version of English back then, the ignorance of native languages in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and let’s not forget the Republic of Texas, is astounding.
The new EO goes on to state “Speaking English not only opens doors economically, but it helps newcomers engage in their communities, participate in national traditions, and give back to our society.” What a slap in the face to mute, deaf, and hard of hearing Americans. And especially when any of them may need to gain critical life-saving information from their own government. We are a singular nation, in many ways because of the many languages used — not the other way around. E Pluribis Unum (still in Latin, btw, as our national motto). Out of many, one.
