On Monday, a clearly distraught Selena Gomez took to her Instagram Stories to share her dismay over the immigration raids and mass deportations taking place ever since Donald Trump took office on January 20 for his second presidential term. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on Sunday, a “nationwide immigration crackdown resulted in the arrest of 956 people, the most since Trump returned to power.”
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As the most followed woman on Instagram, perhaps Selena took to the platform to share her concerns in an effort to shine a light on what she feels is an “attack.” Unsurprisingly, her tears were met with vitriolic hate from Trump supporters, which led the Emilia Pérez actress to delete her emotional post. But, as we all know, once something’s on the internet, it can never fully be erased.
Check out Selena’s tearful message.
“All my people are getting attacked … the children. 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,” Selena said with tears streaming down her cheeks.
The hateful comments came in quickly.
Although her message resonates with so many, very vocal supporters of Trump’s immigration polices came after Selena and she felt compelled to remove her Story. “Apparently it’s not ok to show empathy for people,” she wrote in a follow up post after deleting her original IG Story.
Selena’s emotional post is a reaction not only to the news of how many people have been arrested and deported by ICE, it’s also a reaction to Trump authorizing ICE to target schools and churches, which was not allowed during the Biden administration.
This isn’t the first time that Selena has advocated for immigrant rights.
In 2019, in an op-ed for Time, she wrote:
“I’m concerned about the way people are being treated in my country. As a Mexican-American woman I feel a responsibility to use my platform to be a voice for people who are too afraid to speak.”
I appreciate Selena’s compassion and her willingness to be publicly vulnerable. As for her saying she doesn’t know what to do, I would suggest that as a very visible celebrity with billionaire status, that she should continue to use her voice to advocate for immigrants.
Please don’t let the haters shut you up, Selena. The world doesn’t need any billionaires, but since you are one, please use your wealth and power for good. Find a way to talk to Trump. Other billionaires have access to him, why shouldn’t you?
