Selena Gomez has hit back at a Republican politician who called for her to be deported after she posted a teary video about US President Donald Trump‘s immigration policies to social media.
US Senate candidate Sam Parker took to X – the platform formerly known as Twitter – to say “deport Selena Gomez” after the American singer and actress posted a since-deleted video reacting to hundreds of immigration raids across the country.
“Selena Gomez picked illegals over America b/c she’s the 3rd gen descendent of Mexican illegals who received citizenship in the ’87 Amnesty,” he wrote.
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“She has an entitlement attitude toward America, like her illegal g’parents. Maybe Selena should be deported, too?”
Gomez simply responded with white text on a black background, shared to her Instagram Story.
“Oh Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker. Thanks for the laugh and the threat,” she wrote.
Gomez was born in America and is a US citizen so can’t be deported.
Her grandparents fled from Mexico in the ’70s in search of a better life, something Gomez has addressed previously in a powerful op-ed for Time magazine in 2019.
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“Undocumented immigration is an issue I think about every day, and I never forget how blessed I am to have been born in this country thanks to my family and the grace of circumstance,” Gomez wrote.
She also produced the Netflix docuseries Living Undocumented, which followed the lives of undocumented families in the US.
Parker claims he’s received death threats on social media as a result of his comments.
He later said he “dragged Selena Gomez pretty hard today” and blamed “millions of White Americans for Selena Gomez’s attitude”.
”Until you begin to understand what America is – WHO America is – people like Selena Gomez will never change,” he said.
The social media storm erupted after Gomez shared a video, which has since been deleted, tearfully apologising that she wasn’t able to use her celebrity status to do more for nearly 1000 migrants facing deportation after sweeping immigration raids.
“All my people are getting attacked, the children,” she said in the clip, captioned with “I’m sorry” alongside the Mexican flag.
“I don’t understand. 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.”
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She later deleted the clip, instead posting a black background with white text, reading: “Apparently it’s not OK to show empathy for people”.
Parker wasn’t the only one to comment on Gomez’s clip – Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan responded during an interview on Fox News.
He questioned why the Only Murders in the Building star wasn’t crying for those who died from fentanyl brought into the US across the southern border.
“I’ve met with hundreds of … mums and dads who were separated from their children because they buried them, because they were killed by illegal aliens,” Homan said, speaking to host Sean Hannity.
Homan also questioned why Gomez wasn’t crying for children who had been illegally smuggled into the US only to be killed or sex trafficked – appearing to reference a false claim that Trump has previously pushed, and that grossly distorts federal statistics.
The Trump administration launched an immigration enforcement blitz nationwide on Sunday, in which 956 people were arrested, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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In addition to Chicago, immigration actions were reported in California, Texas, Georgia, Colorado, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, according to Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Multiple agencies were involved in the apprehensions, including ICE and officials from several Justice Department agencies as they targeted what they said are public safety and national security threats.
ICE reported making more than 1100 arrests as of Monday as the operation continued.
– Reported with CNN.
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