On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States. The order will allow government agencies and organizations that receive federal funding to choose whether to continue offering documents and services in languages other than English.
"In welcoming new Americans, a policy of encouraging the learning and adoption of our national language will make the United States a shared home and empower new citizens to achieve the American dream," the order states. "Speaking English not only opens doors economically, but it helps newcomers engage in their communities, participate in national traditions, and give back to our society. This order recognizes and celebrates the long tradition of multilingual American citizens who have learned English and passed it to their children for generations to come."
"He's not outlawing the Spanish language, for heaven's sakes," Humberto Fontova points out. "If there's two people on the street corner talking Spanish, they're not going to be arrested. It's just the official language of the official government literature and so forth. That's the way it should be."
The order rescinds a mandate from former President Bill Clinton that required the government and organizations that received federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers.
"The vast majority of American taxpayers who speak mostly English aren't going to be asked to foot the bill for those people who refuse to learn the official language," Fontova summarizes. "To me, it's perfectly sensible."
And he does not expect the Hispanics who supported Trump in November will turn against him over this.
"The inroads that he made to the Spanish-speaking people, they're not going to be affected with this," he says. "They didn't vote for him because of something this trivial; they voted for him the same reason Cuban Americans did: for the … price of gas, for peace abroad, for a decent standard of living, for mortgages to go down. They have the same concerns as the rest of us."
