Selena Gomez.
Photo: Presley Ann/Getty Images
Selena Gomez was choked up and teary-eyed as she spoke in a since-deleted video on her Instagram Story the morning of January 27. “All my people are getting attacked,” she said through tears. “The children. I don’t understand.” The story was captioned “I’m sorry,” along with a Mexican flag. ICE immigration raids began nationwide this weekend, centralized in Chicago, Miami, and Newark, with 956 people arrested, per the BBC. “I’m so sorry,” Gomez said on her story. “I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.” Shortly after, she shared and deleted a post saying, “Apparently it’s not ok to show empathy for people.”
Donald Trump’s election campaign centered on mass deportation and, since taking office, he has passed numerous executive actions. These orders limit birthright citizenship, increase vetting for visa applicants, and rescind 78 executive orders signed by former president Joe Biden focusing on immigration, according to the Jackson Walker legal firm. Gomez previously produced a documentary titled Living Undocumented, which followed eight families across the United States. “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 in 2019 Time personal essay. “But when I read the news headlines or see debates about immigration rage on social media, I feel afraid for those in similar situations. I feel afraid for my country.
