The White House administration of President Donald Trump has removed the Spanish language page whitehouse.gov/es, leaving millions of Spanish speakers with no access to key information. Visitors are now instead presented with a “page not found” message, accompanied by an image of the White House.
A redirect link brings users to the main White House homepage, featuring a video montage of Trump.
It was criticized within hours. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer turned to X, where he asked that it be restored, declaring, “Put this back. Deleting this resource makes it harder for fellow Americans to access essential information and does nada to lower the costs of groceries for Americans.” Schumer’s tweet refers to inflation worries that some voters mentioned as part of their reasoning for backing Trump.
Asked about the changes, White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields responded Tuesday that the administration is “committed to bringing back online the Spanish translation section of the website.”
“It’s day two. We are in the process of developing, editing, and tweaking the White House website. As part of this ongoing work, some of the archived content on the website went dormant. We are committed to reloading that content in a short timeline,” he said without elaborating.
The Hispanic Council, a top think tank, reports that 43 million people speaking fluently of Spanish are living in the United States. The closing of the Spanish page happens when Trump has been implementing policies of immigration targeting Spanish-speaking communities from the neighboring countries. This also alienates many Latino voters who had voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential elections.
Critics say it prevents Spanish-speaking Americans from obtaining critical updates and information. It shows that controversy surrounding Trump’s immigration policies persists and affects more than just their community.
Experts advise that government communication must be as inclusive as possible to ensure equal access for everyone in the nation, regardless of their language.