Trump ‘border tsar’ lashes Selena Gomez over teary video
A senior Trump official has hit back at actress Selena Gomez, after she posted a tearful video about the surge in deportations across the United States.
In the now-deleted post, which went viral, the Emilia Perez star sobs uncontrollably as she says: “All my people are being attacked, and children.”
Gomez’s post to her 400 million Instagram followers was captioned with “I’m sorry” and a Mexican flag emoji.
“I wish I could do something but I can’t,” she says as she cries.
It follows a US-wide immigration crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump after his return to the White House. The country’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement said there were 956 arrests on Sunday alone.
Trump has also sent 1500 troops to the US’s border with Mexico, including a combat force.
“I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something for the kids. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise,” an emotional Gomez said.
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But Trump’s so-called “border tsar”, Tom Homan hit back at the star – and other critics – on Fox News.
“If they don’t like it, then go to Congress and change the law. We’re going to do this operation without apology,” he said.
“We’re going to make our community safer… It is all for the good of this nation. And we’re going to keep going. No apologies. We’re moving forward.”
Homan said those who had been arrested were “public security threats and national security threats, bottom line”.
In a second Fox interview, he asked where Gomez’s sympathy was for sex-trafficking victims.
“We got a half a million children who were sex-trafficked into this country, separated from their families, put in the hands of criminal cartels to be smuggled into the country,” she said.
“This administration can’t find over 300,000. Where’s the tears for them?”
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Gomez deleted her video, before returning to social media to comment that “apparently it’s not OK to show empathy for people”. That post was also later deleted.
There has also been other criticism, including from US Senate candidate Sam Parker. He took to X to call for her to be deported.
“Selena Gomez picked illegals over America b/c she’s the 3rd gen descendent of Mexican illegals who received citizenship in the ’87 Amnesty,” Parker wrote.
Gomez was born in Texas and is an American citizen.
“Oh Mr Parker, Mr Parker. Thanks for the laugh and the threat,” she posted on Instagram.
There was support for the star from her fans, and rapper Flavor Flav.
“Team Selena Gomez. Again. That woman is always so brave to share her truth, and so many are quick to bully her,” he posted on X.
Gomez has previously spoken out about immigration being “an issue I think about every day”.
“In the 1970s, my aunt crossed the border from Mexico to the United States hidden in the back of a truck. My grandparents followed, and my father was born in Texas soon after. In 1992, I was born a US citizen thanks to their bravery and sacrifice,” she wrote in a 2019 Time essay.
“Over the past four decades, members of my family have worked hard to gain United States citizenship.”
In the same year, she fronted a Netflix documentary series called Living Undocumented, which followed eight immigrant families in the US.
Gomez is starring in hit Disney TV series Only Murders in the Building. She also recently received a Bafta nomination for her role in the musical film Emilia Perez, which leads this year’s Oscar race.
