Critics are calling out President Donald Trump and his Homeland Security Department for a social media post threatening to deport millions of people ― including, by implication, millions of American citizens.
The agency posted an image of a vintage car on a beach with “America After 100 Million Deportations” written across it.
“The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world,” the agency added as it shared the image, which is a detail of the painting “Impender Beach,” by Japanese pop artist Hiroshi Nagai.
There is no indication that Nagai approved of the use of his work, nor is even aware of the social media message, which the agency posted on Wednesday afternoon, then reposted a few hours later.
Trump during the 2024 campaign repeatedly promised to deport millions.
However, deporting 100 million people would mean far more than the undocumented. The Pew Research Center said there were 14 million undocumented migrants in the country in 2023, along with nearly 38 million who have legal status, including naturalized citizens.
That’s a total of roughly 52 million foreign-born residents, still 48 million short of the number in the DHS social media post.
