White House mocks Selena Gomez over tearful video about ICE raids

The White House mocked Emmy-nominated actress Selena Gomez over her tearful video about the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids with their own video featuring mothers whose kids were killed by undocumented immigrants. 

The video, one minute and 27 seconds long, showcased three mothers who rebuked the singer over her recently-deleted video where she cried about the ongoing ICE raids occurring number of places around the country and the crackdown on the southern border. 

"You don't know who you're crying for,” Tammy Nobles said in the Saturday video. Nobles’s daughter Kayla was killed in 2022 by an El Salvadorian national. 

"What about our children who were brutally murdered, and raped and beat to death and left on the floor by these illegal immigrants,” she added. 

Gomez was scrutinized for posting a video on her Instagram, where she has over 422 million followers, crying about the ramped-up immigration enforcement by the Trump administration which includes deportations. 

“I just want to say that I’m so sorry. All my people are getting attacked. The children. I don’t understand,” Gomez said in the video that was posted on Monday. “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.” 

Gomez received criticism from some right-wing influencers and GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) who wrote that the actress’ “crocodile tears aren’t for deportations — it’s a PR stunt to distract @TheAcademy from Hispanics HATING her movie,” in reference to the Oscar-nominated film “Emilia Pérez.” 

Geraldo Rivera backed Gomez and said she “should be commended for her compassion and sincerity. People attacking her on social media should be ashamed. You can disagree without being disagreeable.” 

Alexis Nungaray, a mother whose 12-year-old daughter was killed last year, said in the White House’s video: "It's hard to believe that it's actually genuine and real because she's an actress.” 

"I just feel like it's a ruse to deceive people and to garner sympathy for lawlessness," Patty Morin, whose daughter was killed in 2023, said in the video. 

Trump has heavily campaigned on curbing illegal immigration and performing massive deportations during his 2024 White House bid. Since taking office, ICE has conducted raids in various spots nationwide and he has deployed servicemembers to the U.S.-Mexico border to enforce security. 

The president signed an executive order on Wednesday that will task the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ready a 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay for deportation of migrants. 

“No one has stood up for us except for us mothers to cry about our children,” Morin said in the video. 

“I truly appreciate everything Donald Trump has done,” Nungaray said.