This post was originally published on Truthout.org under a Creative Commons 4.0 license.
In an effort to advance the Trump administration’s white supremacist, anti-immigrant agenda, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will only produce materials in English, according to an internal memo obtained by the New York Post.
“All HUD communications, correspondence, and physical and digital published materials will be produced exclusively in English,” the memo states. The agency will also “no longer offer non-English translation services.”
The memo, authored by HUD deputy secretary Andrew Hughes, directed staff to “immediately remove all printed or digital collateral about non-English translation services currently displayed in HUD offices or HUD-funded facilities.”
The memo continued: “HUD will continue to ensure that all persons have meaningful access to HUD programs and services” and that the agency “will continue to provide communication services to the hearing and seeing impaired, and persons with related disabilities.”
“We are one people, united, and we will speak with one voice and one language to deliver on our mission of expanding housing that is affordable, helping those in need, caring for our most vulnerable Americans, and revitalizing rural, tribal, and urban communities,” Hughes wrote.
The federal housing agency administers housing assistance and community development programs, and works to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal laws that prohibit discrimination in housing.
According to the Post, Hughes’s directive was created in response to the president’s executive order designating English as the official language of the United States, although the order did not require agencies “to amend, remove, or otherwise stop production of documents, products, or other services prepared or offered in languages other than English.”
It seems likely that other agencies will follow HUD’s lead as Congress has confirmed Trump loyalists to head up numerous federal agencies, such as HUD Secretary Scott Turner, who has said “government dependency” is to blame for “perpetual homelessness.” In April, he posted on social media: “Helping our nation’s most vulnerable starts with giving them the tools they need to achieve self-sufficiency, not endless government handouts.”
As part of the same executive order, Trump rescinded a 25-year-old presidential directive that had required federal agencies and recipients of federal funding provide people with “Limited English Proficiency” (LEP) access to services and programs. Under the directive, refusing to do so would constitute a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination on the basis of national origin.
In July, the Department of Justice (DOJ) rescinded “all prior guidance” to federal funding recipients regarding the Civil Rights Act’s “prohibition against national origin discrimination affecting limited English proficient persons.”
However, people with LEP are still protected by state and federal anti-discrimination laws, as well as statutes that require programs to provide translation services and multilingual materials.
“Federal civil rights laws, like Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, remain unchanged,” the National Immigration Forum pointed out in its analysis of Trump’s order and DOJ’s memo, which was published prior to HUD’s memo. “[I]t is still illegal for recipients of federal funding to discriminate based on national origin and use language as a vehicle to do so.”
The National Immigration Law Center’s analysis also emphasized the rights of people with LEP: “Everyone still retains a legal right to obtain language assistance, such as qualified interpreters and translated documents from recipients of federal funding.”
While significant protections still exist, plenty of damage may still be done to the more than 25 million people who have difficulty communicating in English.
“[L]ifting language access requirements means that agencies now have the freedom to rethink their policies around the services that they offer,” the National Immigration Forum said. “Without language support, non-English speakers may be effectively barred from critical government services, such as accessing healthcare or educational resources to learn English, or interfere with their ability to vote, making their ability to adapt and assimilate into the U.S. much more difficult.”
