On March 1, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14224, designating English as the official language of the United States. This order revoked EO 13166, issued in August 2000, which aimed to improve access to federal programs for individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). It also directs the attorney general to rescind and revise federal guidance on language access—potentially leading to the removal of critical documents for LEP communities.

While the new order does not explicitly prohibit agencies from providing services in languages other than English, it leaves such decisions to the discretion of agency leadership. This may disrupt efforts by recipients of federal funding—like state and local governments, school districts, and health care providers—to serve individuals with LEP, even though recipients of federal funding are prohibited by law from discriminating based on national origin. It is also likely to result in less coordinated and consistent language access across federal programs.

In the absence of strong federal coordination, state and local policies will become increasingly critical to ensuring that language barriers do not impede access to essential government services and communications. With a limited number of states with laws expanding language access, immigrant workers and their families are the most vulnerable to these changes—especially Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Without language accessibility, these communities are at greater risk of being denied access to social programs and their labor rights—including protections against wage theft, unsafe working conditions, and discrimination.

AAPI communities are particularly harmed by actions to limit language access

All immigrant populations that struggle with language access are impacted by how this executive order could limit resources. AAPI communities have particularly high rates of LEP, with Asian Americans—the only racial group that is predominantly foreign-born—having the greatest need for language assistance. Over 30% of Asian Americans and 12% of Pacific Islanders exhibit limited English proficiency, meaning that over 6 million AAPI individuals are potentially impacted by language access programs.

Previous EPI analysis indicates that certain AAPI groups have particularly high rates of LEP and low median hourly wages. Within the Asian American community, Bhutanese and Burmese individuals have the highest shares of LEP at 68.6% and 67.9%, respectively, and are also among the lowest wage earners with median hourly wages of $16.59 and $17.68, respectively. Within the Pacific Islander community, Marshallese people have the highest share of LEP at 41.9% and have a median hourly wage of $14.90. While cost of living differences and occupational concentrations also play a role in wage outcomes, it is critical that low-wage workers have access to resources in their preferred language to best understand labor laws, their rights as workers, and rights to social programs.

States and localities must act to safeguard language access

The rescission of federal language access guidelines amid the rapidly changing and uncertain policy landscape makes it imperative for states and localities to develop and implement their own language access plans. Figure A highlights states with AAPI LEP populations greater than 30% and indicates which states have enacted a state-wide language access policy. As of 2024, 13 states and Washington, D.C., have state-wide language access policies. Among these states, California, New York, and New Jersey serve some of the largest AAPI populations.

Meanwhile, more than 75 localities have local language access policies. Texas, which is home to 7.5% of the AAPI population and significant shares of Asian American communities with LEP, does not have a state-wide language access plan but does have city-level programs in Austin and Houston.

Notably, several states are home to smaller shares of the total AAPI population but have high concentrations of communities with greater language access needs. Almost 20% of the Bhutanese population resides in Ohio and more than 20% of the Marshallese population resides in Arkansas—both of which lack state-wide language access plans.

The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans and the Migration Policy Institute have developed recommendations for improving language access that emphasize data collection and reporting mechanisms, monitoring the growth of LEP populations, and creating state offices for language access oversight. State-level data collection and maintenance are particularly pressing as the Trump administration is actively removing and censoring disaggregated data published by federal agencies. For example, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency removed a critical environmental justice mapping tool that combined data on environmental burdens and demographics, including race and languages spoken across the United States. States and localities commonly rely on the American Community Survey data, which is administered by the U.S. Census Bureau, to gather information on LEP communities. While the data have not yet been eliminated, states and localities should take proactive measures in preserving data to ensure that they can provide LEP communities access to critical resources and information.

It is vital that states and localities safeguard language accessibility for workers and their families as the Trump administration undermines and rewrites federal guidelines. Ensuring accessible information and services in multiple languages is not only a matter of compliance—it is a matter of equity and economic justice.