News that President Donald Trump is expected tothat designate an official language for the country — English — has stirred concerns among Puerto Rican officials and advocates about what this could mean for Puerto Rico, a Spanish-speaking U.S. territory.
According to a White House official, the order will rescind a Clinton-era mandate requiring agencies and recipients of federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers. Still, agencies will be able to keep current policies and provide documents and services in other languages as needed, but the designation seeks to encourage “new Americans to adopt a national language that opens doors to greater opportunities.”
While the White House official didn’t specifically comment on how the change would impact Puerto Rico, the order would give agencies the flexibility to decide how and when to offer services in languages other than English. It also states that the intention behind the new designation is “unifying the American people.”
Though Spanish and English are the official languages in Puerto Rico, Spanish remains the main language of the island’s government and its public affairs. In schools, the established language of instruction is Spanish, but English is a mandatory academic course under the local education system. It’s estimated that only a quarter of Puerto Ricans living on the island are fluent in English.
Rep. Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting member of Congress, that the order “reflects a vision of American identity that conflicts with our Puerto Rican identity.”
“There will be no statehood without assimilation, and Puerto Ricans will never surrender our identity. For those of us who seek a union with the U.S. without assimilation,” Hernández said, “there is only one alternative: maintaining and strengthening the current Commonwealth relationship.”
Hernández is the president of the island’s , which supports the current territorial status, but in Congress he caucuses with Democrats.
Puerto Rican identity has long been intrinsically intertwined with Spanish, so much so that when — especially the prospect of statehood — they always question what’s going to happen with their language.
The future of Puerto Rico’s status remains an incredibly , in large part because of how local political parties there are organized.
Puerto Rico’s Gov. Jenniffer González did not respond to a request for comment. She’s the president of the pro- and .
Fellow lifelong statehood supporter Charlie Rodríguez told NBC News that “statehood does not represent the loss of our identity, nor does it represent cultural changes.”
“The statehood movement has always been clear. Turning Puerto Rico into a state is not about ceasing to be who we are,” said Rodríguez, who’s also the chairman of the Puerto Rico Democratic Party and a member of the pro-statehood .
In response to Trump’s order, Rodríguez said “there’s not going to be much change” in Puerto Rico and sees the new designation as part of the rhetoric that characterizes the president. “We shouldn’t fall for hysteria.”
As Congress debated the , , a coalition composed of mostly stateside organizations advocating for Puerto Ricans on the island, has brought up concerns over the preservation of Spanish.
That legislation sought to resolve Puerto Rico’s territorial status through a federally binding plebiscite, or vote, in which Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. territory would get to choose among three nonterritorial status options: statehood, independence and sovereignty in free association with the U.S. When the bill was debated in Congress under the Biden administration, whether Spanish would remain as the main language, arguing it is an integral part of Puerto Rican culture and identity.
In reacting to Trump’s upcoming order, the organization wrote, “As we have said many times, any legislation around ‘s status must make crystal clear whether a statehood scenario will continue to allow -OR NOT- Puerto Ricans to fully operate our govt, schools, courts -our way of life- in Spanish.”
