“The HUD website was scrubbed of all non-English materials, and the translation plug-in was removed.”

Dear America, 

I quit my job as a HUD attorney because I could no longer bear watching the agency get dismantled around me. My last straw was the implementation of an “English only” policy, which not only completely upended my work in a region with large immigrant communities, but it also effectively ended my ability to provide services or protection to constituents in Puerto Rico.

On the day that policy came down, staff members came into our office and started throwing out non-English documents and signage, including “Know Your Rights” guides and explanations of where to go for basic housing assistance and counseling. The HUD website was scrubbed of all non-English materials, and the translation plug-in was removed. 

Previously, there had been two identical posters hanging in our reception area explaining available options for housing counseling, one in English and one in Spanish. An administrative staffer simply took down the Spanish version. I saved it from the trash and was able to put it back up, but inside the legal department’s office suite, not in the area meant for members of the public. 

More consequentially, a memo came down saying that we couldn’t communicate with outside parties in any language other than English, we couldn’t produce legal documents in any language other than English, and our contracts with translation services were being terminated. 

How are you supposed to serve the people of Puerto Rico if you can’t speak to people in Spanish, you can’t get documents translated, and you can’t hire an interpreter? The obvious answer was: you don’t. This was the intended outcome: to completely cut immigrants and non-Anglo ethnic communities off from government protection, from coast to coast and beyond. 

That was the day I realized I could no longer serve the public effectively from inside HUD and had to leave.

—Former HUD worker