Donald Trump‘s administration has responded to Selena Gomez‘s since-deleted video of herself crying over the deportation of undocumented immigrants under the president’s aggressive new approach to immigration.
This month, in an Instagram video that was quickly taken down, the actress and singer said as tears poured down her face, “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.”
After taking down the clip and receiving backlash from Trump supporters, the Only Murders in the Building star responded, “Apparently it’s not OK to show empathy for people.” Gomez also noted that she is a third-generation Mexican American.
On Friday, Trump shared a video on the official White House X (formerly Twitter) account, which included three mothers whose daughters were allegedly murdered by illegal immigrants and their responses to Gomez’s video.
“Seeing that video, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually genuine and real because she’s an actress,” Alexis Nungaray, mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, says in the video. “My daughter was a child. There’s many other children whose lives were taken due to people who crossed here illegally.”
Jocelyn was 12 years old when she was killed in Houston in June, CNN reported. Two undocumented men from Venezuela have been charged for her murder, according to the Houston Police Department.
“You don’t know who you’re crying for. What about our children who were brutally murdered and raped and beat to death and left on the floor by these illegal immigrants?” Tammy Nobles, mother of Kayla Hamilton, continues in the video. “They didn’t cry for our daughters.”
Hamilton, who was 20, was killed in July 2022 in Aberdeen, Maryland, by a 16-year-old MS-13 gang member from El Salvador who was in the U.S. illegally, WMAR-TV reported.
Patty Morin, mother of Rachel Morin, says, “I just feel like it’s a ruse to deceive people and to garner sympathy for lawlessness. … No one has stood up except for us mothers to cry out about our children.”
Rachel Morin, who was 37, was murdered while out running in Harford County, Maryland, in August 2023. A man from El Salvador has been charged in her killing, CBS News reported.
The three mothers went on to praise Trump for his strict immigration policies since he returned to the White House earlier this month.
Trump’s newly appointed border czar Tom Homan previously responded to Gomez and others objecting to the recent ICE raids, telling them to take their complaints to lawmakers.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Gomez’s rep for comment.
