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President Donald Trump and the White House are being blasted for releasing a video online showing immigrants in chains being deported with a flippant caption, with social media expressing revulsion.
On Tuesday (February 18), the White House released a dehumanizing video showing immigrants whose faces are not shown being shackled being put on a flight during the deportation process, alarming many. The video shows multiple people being placed in handcuffs and shackled around the ankles with a torso chain, with the sounds vividly captured including that of the aircraft waiting on the tarmac. It currently has 63.8 million views on X, formerly Twitter, and 2.6 million views via Instagram reels.
The video was posted on their social media accounts, with the caption “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight.” ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, which is a sensation that promotes relaxation and a tingly sensation and goosebumps in people. It has been a popular genre of social media videos, growing over the past decade. There has been no clarity of who is responsible at the White House for the posting of the video, as the Trump administration has kept the identities of those operating those accounts under wraps, a stark contrast to the Office of Digital Strategy under the previous Biden-Harris administration which was more transparent.
The immediate reactions from the video by supporters of President Trump were appalling, with tech billionaire and Trump advisor Elon Musk chiming in on his X platform calling it “so based.” Another online figure who has frequently used racism in their posts, Joshua Kilgore, applauded the video. “Got what I voted for award,” he wrote.
But far many more online, including Democratic Senators Ed Markey and Seth Moulton, expressed their outrage and disgust. March For Our Lives board member Caroline McCarthy Pompizzi summed it up in an X post: “I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on or who you voted for – I think we can all agree this is *extremely* psychopathic s–t.”
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Guy Philippe, a leader of a rebellion in Haiti and a convicted drug trafficker, was deported from the United States to his homeland this week. Philippe is just one of thousands deported to the troubled nation since President Joe Biden was sworn into office back in 2021.
The Miami Herald reports that Guy Philippe, 55, was deported on Thursday (November 30) from Alexandria, La. along with over a dozen other individuals. Philippe was a former commander in the Haitian police force who led an armed rebellion in 2004 to overthrow President Jean Bertrand Aristide. From there, Philippe got involved in a scheme with Colombian cocaine traffickers, assisting in a money-laundering operation for the group.
In 2017, after dodging capture by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Philippe was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the scheme. Philippe pleaded guilty to the charges but claimed innocence.
Philippe’s return to Haiti has been in process since September after he was released from a federal facility and moved into immigration custody. According to the Herald‘s report, Philippe attempted to get his sentence reduced since the sentencing.
The turn of Guy Philippe is a cause of concern for some as the country has yet to rebound from the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Philippe, despite his criminal record in the United States, won a seat in the Haiti Senate in 2016 while campaigning alongside Moïse. Just before he was set to be sworn in, Philippe was arrested and handed over to the DEA.
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Photo: JAIME RAZURI / Getty
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