Days after singer-actor Selena Gomez was seen crying in a video over the Trump administration’s mass deportations, the White House on Saturday shared a clip featuring three women whose children were allegedly “murdered by illegal aliens”, a term used for undocumented immigrants.
“You don’t know who you’re crying for. What about our children who were brutally murdered, and raped and beaten to death and left on the floor by these illegal immigrants?,” Tammy Nobles, the mother of Kayla Hamilton who was reportedly killed by an El Salvadoran national in 2021, said in the video posted on White House’s official X handle.
“You didn’t cry for our daughters,” she added.
“Kayla Hamilton, Jocelyn Nungaray, and Rachel Morin were murdered by illegal aliens. Their courageous mothers had something to say to Selena Gomez and those who oppose securing our borders,” the White House said in the caption.
Kayla Hamilton, Jocelyn Nungaray, and Rachel Morin were murdered by illegal aliens.
Their courageous mothers had something to say to @SelenaGomez and those who oppose securing our borders. Watch ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/KfsqQGwhqj
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 31, 2025
In a now-deleted Instagram video, Ms Gomez, whose father is Mexican, described the arrests of illegal immigrants as an attack on “all my people”.
“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,” she said as she broke down in tears in the video posted on January 27.
The caption on her video read, “I’m sorry,” and included a Mexican flag emoji. She, however, deleted the clip after backlash.
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Alexis Nungaray, whose 12-year-old daughter Jocelyn was killed last year, said it was “hard to believe” Ms Gomez in the video as “she’s an actress”.
“Seeing that video, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually genuine and real because she’s an actress. My daughter was a child. There are many other children whose lives were taken due to people who cross here illegally,” she said.
Patty Morin, whose daughter Rachel was reportedly killed in 2023, said Ms Gomez’s video was “just a ruse to deceive people and to garner sympathy for lawlessness”.
The three women also thanked Donald Trump for action against illegal immigration within days of taking office on January 20 and said he is “making things happen”.
“President Trump genuinely cares for the American people and the American family,” Ms Morin said, as she vowed to stand by him to “make America safer again”.
X Users Slam White House For Selena Gomez Video
The White House, however, was slammed for the video, with several X users saying it was “inciting anger towards” Selena Gomez.
“This is disgusting – the WH official account is here shaming and inciting anger towards an individual American. Forget the politics here – if you think it’s okay for the WH to attack a citizen like this you’re in for a rude awakening when the dictator comes at you,” a user said.
“This is so grossly inappropriate and weird putting a target on Selena’s back by using the White House to personally attack a private citizen. I hope she sues y’all,” wrote another.
Many users also said the White House’s video was “very inappropriate and unprofessional”.
Earlier this week, Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, also reacted to Selena Gomez’s video and dismissed the criticism of raids carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“I don’t think we arrested any families. We’ve arrested public safety threats and national security threats,” he said.
“No apologies. We’re moving forward to make our communities safer,” Mr Homan concluded, citing the potential reduction in fentanyl deaths, “illegal alien” crimes, and human trafficking as outcomes of stricter border enforcement.
