The Trump administration is deleting government data. From infant deaths to hunger, here are 5 ways it's hurting America [View all]

Source: The Guardian

The Trump administration is deleting government data. From infant deaths to hunger, here are 5 ways it’s hurting Americans

This information was used to understand the problems Americans face. The consequences of its erasure, experts warn, could affect generations to come

Amy Qin and graphics by Flávio Pessoa
Thu 7 May 2026 12.00 BST
Last modified on Thu 7 May 2026 12.33 BST

When we think of what governments do, we think of everything from building highways to waging war. What they also do is capture the world in the form of information. The US government may be the foremost producer of information in the world.

For decades, federal agencies have gathered data on everything from climate risk to the rising cost of childcare. It is information funded by taxes, and that belongs to the American people. This data is often how the government decides what to do: what is a problem, what is a policy priority, what should be funded. It tells the story of America.

But over the past year, the Trump administration has been altering and removing decades’ worth of datasets as part of a sweeping campaign targeting so-called “woke programs”, “racial equity”, “gender ideology” and “climate extremism”.

This censorship has affected not just datasets, but also a wide swath of federal resources: tools that helped the public access data, ongoing surveys and, perhaps most concerning, the agency staff that made it all possible.

Experts warn that Trump’s destruction of the country’s data infrastructure will have lasting impacts on all aspects of life ...

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/may/07/trump-administration-deleting-data