The far-right has always hated bilingual education. They think everyone should speak English, and those who don’t should be deported.
The Trump administration is setting the stage to eliminate bilingual education. This move is of a piece with their plan to deport millions of hard-working, honest immigrants who strengthen the economy.
Their goal is to restore a nation that is dominated by white straight Christian men, with a few white Christian women like Pam Bondi in leadership roles, and to banish any programs that help people improve their lot. That’s what MAGA means: a return to the “good old days” when power was in the hands of people like Trump.
The Trump administration has quietly rescinded long-standing guidance that directed schools to accommodate students who are learning English, alarming advocates who fear that schools will stop offering assistance if the federal government quits enforcing the laws that require it.
The rescission, confirmed by the Education Department on Tuesday, is one of several moves by the administration to scale back support for approximately 5 million schoolchildren not fluent in English, many of them born in the United States. It is also among the first steps in a broader push by the Trump administration to remove multilingual services from federal agencies across the board, an effort the Justice Department has ramped up in recent weeks.
The moves are an acceleration of President Donald Trump’s March 1 order declaring English the country’s “official language,” and they come as the administration is broadly targeting immigrants through its deportation campaign and other policy changes. The Justice Department sent a memorandum to all federal agencies last month directing them to follow Trump’s executive order, including by rescinding guidance related to rules about English-language learners.
Since March, the Education Department has also laid off nearly all workers in its Office of English Language Acquisition and has asked Congress to terminate funding for the federal program that helps pay for educating English-language learners. Last week, education advocates noticed that the guidance document related to English learning had a new label indicating it was rescinded and remains online “for historical purposes only.”
On Tuesday, Education Department spokeswoman Madi Biedermann said that the guidance for teaching English learners, which was originally set forth in 2015, was rescinded because it “is not in line with Administration policy.” A Justice Department spokesman responded to questions by sending a link to the July memorandum and said he had no comment when asked whether the guidance would be replaced.
For decades, the federal government has held that failing to provide resources for people not proficient in English constitutes discrimination based on national origin under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
In rescinding the guidance, the Trump administration is signaling that it may stop enforcing the law under that long-standing interpretation. The Education and Justice departments have been responsible for enforcing the law….
“The Department of Education and the Department of Justice are walking away from 55 years of legal understanding and enforcement. I don’t think we can understate how important that is,” said Michael Pillera, an attorney who worked at the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights for 10 years and now directs the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
Without pressure from the federal government to comply with the law, it is possible that some school districts will drop services, Pillera said, particularly as many districts struggle with financial pressures.

This administration is deliberately trying to create more chaos and crises for public education. I taught ESL/ENL for more than three and an half decades, and I was among the earliest teachers of ESL with a master’s degree in New York state. I had frequent visitors from around the state that were trying to develop their own programs for their districts. I also served on the first task force that wrote the first curriculum guide for English language learners in NYS. I cannot even begin to explain how impactful the instruction was for my students. This instruction was a lifeline to prepare them for a future in this country. The vast majority of my former students graduated from high school, college or community college, and they became contributing members of society. In keeping with other policies that will deliberately harm Americans, the leaders appear to be choosing to cause maximum damage to all vulnerable groups including immigrants. Perhaps with the advent of AI, this administration is trying to reduce the number of people in the country every “legal” way possible.
LikeLike
What part of “bi-lingual” does this administration not understand? The word bilingual means that students are assisted in learning subject matter content, as well as English, through the use of both their home language AND English.
I was taught another language in total immersion classes in a different country and due to all the English speaking students who were just not getting it, the teacher realized she HAD to use English sometimes in order to be able to get through to us, because two languages are better than none!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Trump Regime Begins to Cancel”…..
The USA
LikeLike
Seems to me that if you want everyone to speak English, you conduct classes to teach them English. It’s cheaper than deporting them, although the administration seems to delight in doing that.
And why not eliminate whatever rules and regs say everything must be printed in 20 different languages? That way, instead of continuing to accommodate other languages, you’d be more or less forcing people to learn English.
LikeLike
The message I am getting from the these actions is that this administration is planning to deport as many of them that they can. They do not intend to make the investment because they do not want immigrants here, even though we are largely a nation of immigrants that have contributed greatly to this country’s growth and development. I read they will be reviewing all visas to determine how many more foreigners they can deport.
LikeLike
Oh, no doubt. If you don’t speak English, Trump wants you gone. Real ‘Mericans speak the official language.
LikeLike
John F Kennedy wrote a book titled “A Nation of Immigrants.”
LikeLike
Research has shown that, due to the plasticity of the developing brain early in life, there are critical periods for learning, including optimal time periods for language learning when people are young.
Therefore, the requirements that things be printed in other languages is for all the adults who were unable to learn how to speak, read and write in English because they came here as grownups and that is when it’s the most challenging time for people to learn languages. Eliminating those requirements would mean preventing parents, grandparents and other foreign born older family members involved in raising kids from understanding what’s going on in the children’s schools, etc.
See research on critical periods such as this: https://psyforu.com/the-critical-period-hypothesis-when-is-the-best-time-to-learn-a-language/
LikeLike
Learning a second language contributes to neuroplastiscity which is the ability of the brain to adapt. It is a big topic in medicine as it can help people better recover from injury or illness. This administration does not care about the benefits of being bilingual. What they are doing is wholly political, and they intend to exclude these children and their families.
LikeLike
Retired Teacher: I think the trick is to teach kids when they are very young. For many years, I’ve both worked and lived in the most diverse area of my city, where there have long been a lot of new immigrants and multiple languages spoken. I used to tell the foreign born parents of my young students that if they have television sets, to watch Sesame Street with their children because, “I speak TV.”
Many families here speak multiple languages, such as my upstairs neighbors who speak fluent Chinese, Russian and English, and other neighbors who speak fluent Yiddish, Hebrew and English –and who don’t have televisions. What I have regularly noticed is that even when told or asked something in another language, most often the children respond in English –including those without TVs. I frequently hear the children speaking in English to each other as well –but rarely if ever in the other languages.
That, combined with my travels abroad, where so many people in foreign countries speak English and a lot of signs are posted in English –so much that it seems to be an unofficial second language– has long made me wonder whether there is something special about English that is very appealing to people once they’ve learned it. I prefer it because I think in English. I’m not sure why foreigners would but I’d sure like to know, so if you have any insights, please share them!
LikeLike
The Guidance document is from 2015 – only a decade old. It was merely a step-by-step on how to avoid investigation by Dept of Ed, detailing reports and monitoring applicable to provision of EL support. Significant mainly in that it seems to signal Dept of Ed OCR will not be enforcing this. So what? They’ve already laid off half the lawyers in the OCR, they’re not going to be getting to this issue. Project 2025’s blueprint for dismantling DofEd [which requires an act of Congress] includes rolling OCR into the DOJ. Doesn’t stop Trump admin from crippling the function. SCOTUS permitting that as lawsuits wend through court system.
The laws requiring ESL include mid-‘60s civil rights Title VI (as long interpreted by courts). There is also a string of related laws/ cases: Bilingual Ed Act ’68 became ESEA Title VII, encouraging & providing fed funds for bilingual ed (reauthorized in ‘70s and ‘80s). Lau v Nichols (1974 SCOTUS) says offering same ELA class to Eng learners as to native Eng speakers is not good enough, as it denies the latter a meaningful opportunity to participate. Congress followed up with 1974 EEOA; directs schools to take “appropriate action” to address language barriers that hinder equal participation. ESEA of ‘90s (reauthorized to present) establishes Title III funding for states to help ELs “attain English proficiency and succeed academically.” None of these laws specify a particular program, but “not doing anything” is not a legal option. Would require Congressional approval to change that.
The $several billion ed funding – including $890 million for ESL – was restored in its entirety a few days ago, after strong pushback from various quarters (including a fair # of Rep legislators).
The full WaPo article includes this hilariously confusing input from our AG: “In the July memorandum, Attorney General Pam Bondi cited case law that says treating people, including students, who aren’t proficient in English differently does not on its face amount to discrimination based on national origin.” Every once in a while when I read it, I get a fleeting glimpse of how she imagines this supports Trump position. But mainly (to me at least), it seems to say there is nothing discriminatory in providing fed funds for EL to support non-native speakers.
LikeLike
There are many people of all ages who are here legally who don’t speak English. Schools teach young people to speak English. How does it help the nation to cancel these funds?
LikeLiked by 1 person
bethree500, This post is extremely articulate and informative!!!
That is no surprise to me though, because I know you are very familiar with pertinent legislation and I am personally grateful to you for mentioning Fair Housing laws to me. That’s because I had forgotten about them, looked up my local ordinance and discovered that my landlord was violating two of it’s provisions, religious discrimination and discrimination of marital status.
So I contacted my brother, who is a lawyer. (I wasn’t going to do that because when I was about to become homeless before, he helped me out financially, which enabled me to move and store some of my stuff for about a year, but he said he never wanted to hear from me again because he had kids to put through college –and I did stay away.) So this past weekend, I just asked for his legal advise regarding our Fair Housing Ordinance in my situation, but he intervened on my behalf, and this evening I learned that I am NOT going to become homeless again!!!
Although I don’t know all the details yet, he’s even going to help me with my lease and rent –which I truly never, expected, and it sounds like I don’t have to find a roommate anymore!! (YEA!!!)
So thank you ever so much for sharing your expertise and insights, because I truly thought I had no options and had become stuck on suicidal ideation over the possibility of becoming homeless again. You (and my brother) truly saved my life! Thank you ever so much!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
ECE,
If this blog accomplishes nothing else, it has made a wonderful contribution to your health and happiness.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, Diane, your blog certainly has helped me in a HUGE way and I just can’t thank you enough for that!
Please know that your blog is extremely valuable though and has helped a lot of people in countless ways, for which many of us feel very grateful, so thank YOU ever so much as well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is simply wonderful, ECE. Glad my guess spurred you to reach out to your brother. And what a good brother he is!
LikeLiked by 1 person
bethree500, Thank you, and you are right again! I feel very fortunate to have such a kind and generous brother.
I’m 14 years older than my brother and it was because of his birth that I soon realized how much I enjoyed working with young children and chose to go into into Early Childhood Education (ECE). So I can thank his very existence for my rewarding career (emotionally and intellectually –just not monetarily)!
LikeLike