Immigrants are collateral damage of White House’s dehumanizing posts | Opinion
In October 2017, President Donald J. Trump delivered a video message to 1,000 new citizens – including a woman who paid $58 for a dress imprinted with the U.S. flag – who gathered at the Fresno Convention Center for a naturalization ceremony.
This marked Trump’s unveiling of a video that presidents have used to welcome the country’s newest citizens. His message was eagerly awaited because his campaign had disparaged immigrants as “bad hombres.”
“No matter where you come from or what faith you practice, this country is now your country,” he said in the 90-second video. “You enjoy the full rights and sacred duties that come with American citizenship. Very, very special.”
Trump then reminded the newest U.S. citizens they “share the obligation to teach our values to others, to help newcomers assimilate to our way of life, and uplift America by living according to the highest ideas of self governance and its highest standards.”
The reaction was mixed. Some gave Trump credit for welcoming him. One woman said she wanted “to go outside and vomit.”
Today’s messaging to the immigration community, especially those of color, from the Trump administration is dehumanizing, un-American and sickening. It’s to be expected from a president who tried to ban birthright citizenship until the courts stepped in. During his first term, Trump tried to get a question asking respondents if they were a U.S. citizen on the 2020 Census, but courts struck that down.
This time, however, his call for massive deportation appears to target only communities of color, especially Mexicans and those from Central and South America. Yes, the majority of the undocumented population, 7.15 million came from those countries, according to a 2022 study by the Pew Research Center. But, 3.8 million came from other nations.
Yet the mean-spirited memes focus solely on brown-skinned individuals.
Social media posts are sickening
A White House post on its X account shows Border Patrol agents accompanying a group of uncuffed men to the U.S.-Mexico border. The 34-second clip is accompanied by the 1969 Steam hit “Na Na Na Hey Hey Hey Goodbye.”
Think this country with a strong immigrant past is being run by professionals? No way. Not when our government posts video mocking deportations.
On Feb. 14, the White House posted on its X account a Valentine’s Day message: “Roses are red, violets are blue. Come here illegally and we’ll deport you.” Mug shots of Trump and border czar Tom Homan accompanied the post.
Trump and the White House have thrown decorum – and a Venezuelan hairstylist seeking asylum and not a member of the feared Tren de Aragua gang – out of the country and most likely not to be seen again.
Last month, Kilmar Abrego García was among 238 Venezuelan migrants who were flown from the U.S. to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Not even after admitting that Abrego García’s deportation was an “administrative error,” the Trump administration has refused a federal judge’s demand to bring him back.
That is the same prison that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem toured on March 26 and warned “criminal illegal aliens: LEAVE NOW. If you do not leave, we will hunt you down, arrest you, and you could end up in this El Salvadoran prison.”
We don’t object to the arrest, conviction and deportation of undocumented criminals. There. There is evidence the Trump administration is not adhering to its goal of focusing on undocumented residents with a criminal record. Hernández Romero is not the only victim.
Agents with the Border Patrol station in El Centro brought their Operation Return to Sender to Kern County in January, weeks before Trump was inaugurated, and sent a shock wave among the immigrant community and farmers, who rely heavily on undocumented labor.
The effort netted 78 arrests, but Cal Matters reported that Border Patrol officials had no prior knowledge of criminal or immigration history for 77 of those arrested.
I personally know family members who are legal residents and U.S. citizens fear the Border Patrol despite their legal status. My late sister, María Lizzoli, always argued she was questioned about her status at immigration check points because of her skin color.
Demeaning the immigrant community on social media is beneath this great country. Yes, get the criminals off our streets, but don’t get into the gutter with your messaging.
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 5:30 AM.