English is Now the ‘Sole Official Language’ of the US, Blanche Memo Says

Welcome back to FOIA Files! Last month, I shared a memo with you that Attorney General Todd Blanche signed and sent to all federal agencies on Sept 1. It was guidance for agencies on how to implement President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order that designated English as the “official” language of the United States. Blanche’s memo called for agencies to eviscerate multilingual services except in cases where it is required by law or “may be necessary,” such as in matters related to national security, immigration enforcement and court proceedings. Last week, Blanche revised his September memo. I obtained a copy of his new version. It says English is not only the “official” language of the US, but the “sole official language.” If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here. And don’t miss this week’s episode of my podcast, Disclosure, which explores one journalist’s fight to bring transparency to college sports.

Blanche’s five-page memo said the revisions were made to incorporate yet another executive order issued by Trump on Sept. 29 month that directed agencies to stop using “artificial intelligence” in government documents and publications and to begin using “super intelligence.” In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump said, “In short order, we will be officially BANNING the term, ‘AI/Artificial Intelligence,’ in all relevant documents, and everything else, due to its inaccuracy.”

The memo Blanche signed in September said that some agencies began “developing and testing artificial intelligence and machine translation programs” to communicate with people who do not speak English well. “The Department encourages other agencies to consider the responsible use of artificial intelligence and machine translation to communicate with individuals who may have limited English proficiency.”

The revised memo replaced “artificial intelligence” with “superintelligence.” But it goes even further than that. A subheading was changed from “English is the Official Language and Should Receive Priority Over Other Languages” to “English is the Sole Official Language.”

The text of the new memo was changed from “the Department has identified opportunities where agencies should prioritize the English language over other languages” to “the Department has identified opportunities where agencies should solely use English.”

It goes on to offer a new example, which wasn’t included in the September memo.

“On August 17 of this year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development removed non-English languages from all departmental business and services,” the memo said. That’s in addition to the removal of non-English language materials from the websites of the Departments of Homeland Security, Education and Treasury that Blanche highlighted last month.

Neither Trump’s executive order nor Blanche’s memo requires agencies to scrub non-English materials from their websites or offices.

“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,” the executive order said.

An official at HUD told FOIA Files that the agency now issues all of its communications and published materials exclusively in English and has ended its translation services.

“Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Turner, we will speak with one voice and deliver on HUD’s mission of expanding affordable housing, caring for our most vulnerable Americans, and revitalizing rural, tribal, and urban communities,” HUD Deputy Secretary Andrew Hughes said in a statement sent to Bloomberg News.

Spokespeople for the other agencies did not respond to a request for comment.

Blanche’s September memo advised agency officials that if they’re not legally obligated to provide multilingual assistance or required to provide it to executive their mission then the agency should “eliminate, modify or reduce in favor of the English language.” The new version of the memo now says the agency should “eliminate assistance in favor of English-only operations.”

The impact of these changes is still unclear.

Paul McPherron, an English professor at Hunter College who assisted the Linguistic Society of America with its response to Trump’s executive order last year, told Bloomberg News that Blanche’s guidelines are deeply flawed.

“This is a linguistic myth or ideology that falsely equates speaking one language as inherently good and needed in order to create a cohesive society,” McPherron said.

I reached out to the Department of Justice to find out why the words “sole” and “solely” were added to the updated version of Blanche’s memo. Kiersten Pels, a DOJ spokesperson, said the memo was revised “to make it more clear, avoid any confusion. Nothing more.”

There’s one last addition to the new version of Blanche’s memo that wasn’t included in the previous version. It says that the DOJ “seeks public comments on the English Language Guidance and, after reviewing the comments, will determine whether modifications are necessary or desirable.”

Blanche noted, however, that the DOJ “will not respond to public comments.”

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