An official White House social media channel has responded to Selena Gomez’s emotional video about the looming surge in deportations ― but it didn’t win the public support it was probably hoping for.
In Gomez’s original video, which she posted to Instagram on Jan. 27 and later deleted, the singer and actor expressed her sorrow over the Trump administration’s aggressive push to deport undocumented migrants.
“All my people are getting attacked, the children. I don’t understand,” Gomez, who was born in Texas and is of Mexican heritage, said tearfully. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.”
Four days later, the White House posted its own video in response, featuring testimonials from Alexis Nungaray, Tammy Nobles and Patty Morin — each one the parent of a girl or woman who was killed, or suspected to have been killed, by someone who was not in the U.S. legally.
“Seeing that video, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually genuine and real, because she’s an actress,” Nungaray says of Gomez in the White House’s clip. “There’s many other children whose lives were taken due to people who cross here illegally.”
But many people on social media have expressed confusion over the White House’s decision to publicly engage with a private citizen.
One person on X, the former Twitter, wrote: “There’s no way this is what yall are up to. Beefing with a pop star for what??????????”
Another person declared the Trump administration to be “the most pathetic administration in history.” Still others took a stronger tone, with one person writing: “Holy shit this administration is run by a knuckle dragging troglodyte.”
Former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan, who now serves as President Donald Trump’s border czar, also weighed in, offering sharp remarks for Gomez.
“It’s all for the good of this nation and we’re gonna keep going,” Homan said on Fox News. “No apologies. We’re moving forward.”
On Jan. 27, Sam Parker, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Utah in 2018, declared on X: “Deport Selena Gomez.”
Gomez responded with a simple message in a now-deleted Instagram story.
“Oh Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker. Thanks for the laugh and the threat,” she wrote, according to a screenshot taken by People.
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In a post on X on Jan 27, rapper Flavor Flav came to Gomez’s defense.
“Team Selena Gomez. Again,” he wrote. “That woman is always so brave to share her truth,,, and so many are quick to bully her.”