Trump's English-only order: The impact on Virginia's language access
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This month, President Trump rescinded a federal mandate that required government-funded institutions to provide language services to non-English speakers.
Why it matters: It shouldn't affect language access in Virginia, Mara Youdelman, a civil rights lawyer at the National Health Law program, tells Axios.
The big picture: That's because Virginia still must abide by a federal law banning discrimination based on "national origin" — which the Supreme Court and others have said means you can't deny people access to language services.
Yes, but: There are a few issues at play.
- Youdelman, who specializes in language access, said "the executive order sows confusion even though it doesn't change the law."
- Some agencies might not understand that the legal requirements around discrimination remain the same. Others might fear violating Trump's order.
Zoom out: Virginia's track record for abiding by federal language-access laws is checkered. It's been sued or investigated multiple times in the past several decades over compliance concerns.
- Meanwhile, nearly one-fifth of Virginians speak another language at home, per Census data.
- In some counties, like Prince William, it's more than a third.
Flashback: The Virginia Department of Health faced a civil rights lawsuit in 2021 for using Google Translate for COVID information, which at one point prompted a translation telling Spanish readers "the vaccine is not necessary."
- Meanwhile, a state audit that year found most Virginia agencies have failed to provide proper language access to resources and called for lawmakers to require agencies to provide non-English materials.
- Also that year: A federal court ordered the Virginia Department of Corrections to create a language access policy following allegations that the agency denied services to a non-English speaker.
There have also been federal civil rights investigations into Arlington and Prince William's public schools over the quality of services they provide for English language learners.
- In 2011, the Justice Department settled a lawsuit with Inova Health System after Inova allegedly failing to provide sign language interpreters.
What we're watching: How state and local agencies respond to the order in the upcoming months and whether enforcement of the anti-discrimination law wanes.