A provocative social media post from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ignited a fierce political firestorm, with critics accusing the agency under President Donald Trump of threatening to deport tens of millions of people—a number that, by implication, would include millions of American citizens.
Controversial Imagery and Message
On Wednesday afternoon, the official DHS account shared an image depicting a vintage car on a serene beach. The artwork, a detail from Japanese pop artist Hiroshi Nagai's painting "Impender Beach," was overlaid with the text: "America After 100 Million Deportations." The accompanying caption read, "The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world." The agency reposted the same message a few hours later.
There is no public indication that artist Hiroshi Nagai approved or was even aware of his work being used in this political context. The post directly references a central promise of Trump's 2024 campaign: the mass deportation of millions of individuals.
The Startling Math Behind the Number
Critics and analysts were quick to perform a stark demographic reality check. According to the Pew Research Center, the United States was home to approximately 14 million undocumented immigrants in 2023. When combined with the nearly 38 million foreign-born residents who have legal status—including naturalized citizens—the total foreign-born population is roughly 52 million.
This simple arithmetic reveals a shocking gap: to reach the 100 million deportations touted in the DHS post, the government would need to target an additional 48 million people beyond every single immigrant in the country. This implies the forced removal of tens of millions of native-born U.S. citizens.
Widespread Condemnation and Accusations
The reaction on social media platform X was swift and severe, with commentators, journalists, and policy experts lambasting the post.
Many labelled the message as explicitly racist and white supremacist. "It's absolutely insane that the DHS Twitter feed consistently and unabashedly puts out racist and white supremacist content," wrote Michael A. Cohen. He argued it leaves no doubt that the motivation is "to rid the country of non-white people."
Immigration policy analyst Alex Nowrasteh pointed out the terrifying implication: "This means they would want to deport all illegal immigrants, all legal immigrants, and ~50 million native-born Americans."
Others questioned the competence and intent behind the post. "Is the social media team filled with idiots or white supremacists? My guess is both," stated former Air Force General Counsel Charles Blanchard, directing shame at DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
The rhetoric was compared to historical fascist propaganda, with one user stating, "This is just blatant Nazi propaganda at this point," while another asked, "How is this not Nazi rhetoric from a taxpayer funded account?"
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration policy expert, summarized the numerical fallacy: "The entire U.S. foreign-born population is only [around] 45 million people, so this ridiculous edge-lord post by taxpayer-funded trolls is suggesting deporting 55 million native-born citizens."
A Disturbing Signal on Immigration Policy
The incident has escalated fears about the potential scope and nature of a second Trump administration's immigration enforcement plans. The DHS post, whether intended as literal policy or provocative "shitposting," as one critic suggested, has been widely interpreted as a signal that citizenship may not be a protection for those deemed undesirable by the government.
For observers in Canada and internationally, the controversy underscores the extreme and volatile nature of U.S. immigration debates, with a sitting government agency floating a number that demographically necessitates the expulsion of citizens. The fallout continues to raise profound questions about the boundaries of official rhetoric and the future of rights and belonging in America.
