Trump’s ‘border czar’ dismisses Selena Gomez’s cries about immigration

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In an emotional video posted on social media, Mexican-American actress and singer Selena Gomez cried about immigration enforcement. But her concern fell upon deaf ears. U.S. President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan dismissed her reaction, as more arrests of undocumented immigrants were carried out over the weekend.

Gomez uploaded the video to her Instagram stories on Monday. In the corner of the video were the words “I’m sorry” with an emoji of the Mexican flag.

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“All my people are getting attacked… the children,” she said, as tears rolled down her cheeks. “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.”

She deleted the video quickly after posting it.

Homan, who was appointed as “border czar” by Trump in November 2024, disagreed with Gomez.

“I don’t think we’ve arrested any families,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “We’ve arrested public safety threats and national security threats, bottom line. We’re going to do this job and we’re going to enforce the laws of this country. If they don’t like it, then go to Congress and change the law.”

He said the arrests were being done to “make our community safer.”

No apologies. We’re moving forward

Tom Homan

“Once we lock that border on continuous operation, you’re going to see fentanyl death decrease, illegal alien crime decrease, sex trafficking decrease,” he said. “It’s all for the good of this nation and we’re going to keep going. No apologies. We’re moving forward.”

Gomez has spoken about her Mexican heritage in the past. In 2021, she told the Los Angeles Times that it took her father’s parents nearly 20 years to become citizens. They migrated from Monterrey, Mexico, to Texas in the 1970s. Gomez said she kept her connection to Mexican culture by spending time with her father’s side of the family on holidays and celebrating events, such as quinceañeras, together.

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Her Instagram video came after a spike in arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and other agencies. On Sunday, ICE, along with federal partners, said it began “conducting enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago. The purpose was “to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities,” it said in a statement.

On Tuesday, CNN reported there were 2,000 arrests in two days. As well as in Chicago, “immigration action” was reportedly taken in California, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration, per CNN.

Last week, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued two directives “essential to ending the invasion of the U.S. southern border and empowering law enforcement to protect Americans,” according to a news release from the agency. Firstly, Huffman rescinded ICE and Customs and Border Protection guidelines from the Biden Administration. Secondly, he put an end to the “broad abuse of humanitarian parole” — which offers protection in the U.S. for individuals unable to reside in their home countries. Instead, each migrant’s case will be looked at individually, and any parole programs not in line with the law are set to be phased out.

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According to a Homeland Security spokesperson, the previous administration “indiscriminately” allowed 1.5 million migrants to enter the United States through the humanitarian parole program.

On Tuesday, Gomez broke her silence by responding to a post on X by Sam Parker, a former Republican Senate candidate with a history of antisemitic and white-supremacist views. He wrote in one post, “Deport Selena Gomez.” In another post, he said: “Selena Gomez picked illegals over America (because) she’s the (third generation) descendent of Mexican illegals who received citizenship in the ’87 Amnesty. She has an entitlement attitude toward America, like her illegal (grandparents). Maybe Selena should be deported, too?”

Gomez wrote on her Instagram stories: “Oh Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker. Thanks for the laugh and the threat.”

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