‘You reap what you sow’: Spanish version of White House website taken offline after Trump inauguration
The Spanish language version of the White House website was abruptly taken offline, just one day into President Donald Trump's new term.
When visitors tried to enter the Spanish version of whitehouse.gov, via whitehouse.gov/es/, they were met with a 404 error message which reads “page not found”.
The Spanish version of the White House X account, @LaCasaBlanca, has also been taken offline.
Currently, an estimated 40 million Americans speak Spanish as their first language.
The move comes as Trump takes office for the second time, bringing in a wave of anti-immigrant policies.
In his inaugural address, Trump vowed that "all illegal entry will be halted" and that millions of "criminal aliens" would be deported.
One of Trump’s first moves was to declare a national emergency at the southern border, drastically increasing the U.S. military presence.
Trump is also trying to ban birthright citizenship, which refers to anyone born on American soil being considered a citizen at birth, regardless of their parent's immigration status.
Reacting to the removal of the Spanish language website, users posted screenshots of a button reading “go home”, referring to the home page. Some users interpreted this as referring to Trump’s new anti-immigration policies.
One X user responded: “Trump eliminated the Spanish version of the White House website. Moreover, visitors trying to access the old page are met with a 'Go Home' button, loaded with a painfully obvious double entendre.”
Another reacted: “The White House website and social media in Spanish language have been closed," they said. "This is how the millions of Spanish speakers who voted for Trump are being thanked on day one. You reap what you sow. Lo que siembras, cosechas.”
Speculation online suggests that the move has been made to reinforce English as the “dominant” language in the US.
During Trump’s previous term in 2017, the Spanish-language version of the White House website was also disabled. Shortly after President Biden’s inauguration in 2021, the Spanish language version was restored.
Trump’s administration has begun removing other sections of the White House website as well.
There is no longer a White House office of public media webpage and a government website that provided information on reproductive rights (reproductiverights.gov) has gone offline.
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