After the fall of Saigon in 1975, waves of South Vietnamese refugees fled to the United States in search of freedom and security. About 125,000 refugees were initially flown in, with more than 800,000 refugees who fled in the following years, many of whom settled in the US in 2017, Vietnamese Americans form about 3% of American immigrants and represent the sixth largest foreign foreign population.
When redoubting in the United States, many refugees came across a language barrier that challenged the navigation of new lives in a new nation. As a member of a refugee family who escaped closely at the betrayal of the communist Vietcong, my family was one of the many blessed and happy South Vietnamese families who received a gift to start a new life in America. We are grateful every day for the US for this generous opportunity.
Like many, however, we were confronted with complex systems, unknown schools and an employment market that required the English skill. In our search to assimilate itself in American culture and earn our citizenship, controlling the English language was needed to promote a sense of connectedness, unity and collective American identity.
This July 4, my family deserved the right to be called ‘Americans’ – legally
Unfortunately, many recent immigrant groups have not maintained and have no priority to the English skill in the same way. According to recent research, 46% of the illegal aliens English does not speak “or” not at all “. That must change – and luckily President Donald Trump takes meaningful action to ensure that this is the case.
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On March 1, 2025, Trump Executive Order 14224 published, “designate English as the official language of the United States.” Although the US has never formally declared its official language at the federal level, its role as the de-facto language of the government, education and trade offered the much needed structure. The designation of an official language is not exclusively, as critics are allowed to claim, but is competent for every new immigrant looking for freedom and opportunities here. Learning English opens doors for forming ties with our neighbors and develops a sense of national pride in American.
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Although this executive order focuses on analyzing the cost value of language services in the federal government, the designation of an official language is of crucial importance to restore our bonds such as Americans, especially in political and socially balkanized society. Further steps must be taken at the state and local level, especially at workplaces and educational institutions, to ensure that the spirit of this executive order is realized where it is most important.
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Language policy is not just about words, but about opening doors of communication and creating a way to become an American. For refugees such as my family and many others from South Vietnam, it is about survival, dignity and the chance to start over. In a new and complex world, freeing the language of your new house is not only useful. I welcome President Trump to take steps to help build unity, a collective national identity and opening the door for everyone to identify themselves as Americans.
