Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@selenagomez
Topics: Politics, Donald Trump, Selena Gomez, US News, Celebrity
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Politics, Donald Trump, Selena Gomez, US News, Celebrity
After a Republican senate candidate called for Selena Gomez to be deported to Mexico, the actress has now issued a rather savage remark.
Controversial politician Sam Parker also slammed the actress in a series of statements on X, in response to her passionate video about Donald Trump's newly-implemented immigration policies.
For those out of the loop, Gomez was subjected to a fair amount of backlash yesterday (27 January), after sharing a tearful video of herself responding to a series of Trump's new executive orders, many of which surround immigration.
Advert
In the clip which has since been removed by the television star, the 32-year-old - who is a third-generation Mexican American - broke down crying whilst discussing the new president's plans to deport millions of immigrants to Central and South America.
"All my people are getting attacked, the children," Gomez sobbed.
"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."
Trump, 78 - who is the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency - announced his plans to 'halt' all 'illegal entry' into the US during his inauguration speech last Monday (20 Jan).
"And we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came," he continued.
In an executive order, the controversial politician also announced his intentions to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, as part of a 'complete restoration of America'.
Unfortunately for Only Murders In The Building star Selena, however, her upload seemed to have inadvertently sparked criticism - both from Republican voters and first and second generation immigrants - and she removed the video.
Later, she shared a message on her Instagram story, reading: "Apparently it’s not ok to show empathy for people."
Among those who seemingly took offence to her display of emotion is US Senate candidate Sam Parker, who later shared a damning statement, suggesting that the 'Who Says' singer should herself be deported.
The politician - a Republican candidate who sought election to the US Senate from Utah in 2018 - shared Gomez's video on X (formerly Twitter), alongside a series of articles and interviews the star has given about her Mexican heritage.
"Selena Gomez picked illegals over America b/c she's the 3rd gen descendent of Mexican illegals who received citizenship in the '87 Amnesty," Parker slammed in the caption.
"She has an entitlement attitude toward America, like her illegal g'parents. Maybe Selena should be deported, too?"
Re-sharing the message later on, he shared another tweet, writing again: "Deport Selena Gomez."
In another update, however, former Disney Channel star Gomez has hit back at Parker's comments.
Returning to Instagram, she quipped: "Oh Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker. Thanks for the laugh and the threat."
As part of his controversial policy, Trump ruled that any child born in the US who doesn't have at least one parent who's a legal permanent resident will no longer be automatically extended US citizenship.
The current legal principle in place grants citizenship to anyone born in the States, regardless of their parents' citizenship - meaning everyone born on US soil immediately becomes a US citizen.
An update issued last week explained, however, that an injunction had blocked the executive order on birthright citizenship.
Outlining the dangers of Trump's plans, the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University told press: "Ending birthright citizenship for US babies with two unauthorized immigrant parents would increase the existing unauthorized population by 4.7 million people by 2050."
A District Court Judge in Seattle also described the potential alteration to birthright citizenship as 'blatantly unconstitutional', preventing it from going into full force without facing immediate legal challenges.
A department spokesperson also announced they look forward to 'presenting a full merits argument to the Court and to the American people'.
Trump's administration has since declared they'll 'obviously' 'vigorously defend' the latest ruling.