--- title: Trump Administration Embraces Word Used By White Nationalists description: "Is the English language too difficult for you?” said a Homeland Security official to TIME when asked its use of the word "remigrate" canonical: https://time.com/7326233/trump-remigrate-homeland-security/ author: Connor Greene article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-16T18:11:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:04.657Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Administration Embraces Word Used By White Nationalists og:description: "Is the English language too difficult for you?” said a Homeland Security official to TIME when asked its use of the word "remigrate" og:url: https://time.com/7326233/trump-remigrate-homeland-security/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd922d894016a8297/6998cada9fbc7c2eafd9a896/GettyImages-2240387733.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Portland Residents React To Trump's Threats To Deploy National Guard og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Administration Embraces Word Used By White Nationalists twitter:description: "Is the English language too difficult for you?” said a Homeland Security official to TIME when asked its use of the word "remigrate" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd922d894016a8297/6998cada9fbc7c2eafd9a896/GettyImages-2240387733.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump's Department of Homeland Security Embraces a Word With Ties to White Nationalism > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Trump's DHS Chief Says Habeas Corpus Lets Him 'Remove People From This Country' [Watch (HLS stream): Trump's DHS Chief Says Habeas Corpus Lets Him 'Remove People From This Country'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/W2Xnh0Cn.m3u8) (1:36)  _Published 2025-05-20. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the constitutional provision that allows people to legally challenge their detention by the government is actually a tool the Trump administration can use in its broader crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border. She called habeas corpus “a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their rights.” Noem, testifying before a congressional committee Tuesday, gave that response when asked by Sen. Maggie Hassan to define the legal concept._ by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Editorial Fellow Oct 16, 2025 6:11 PM UTC  Federal agents clash with anti-I.C.E. protesters at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on Oct. 12, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. Federal agents clash with anti-I.C.E. protesters at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on Oct. 12, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. Mathieu Lewis—Rolland/Getty Images by [Connor Greene](https://time.com/author/connor-greene/) ## Connor Greene Editorial Fellow Oct 16, 2025 6:11 PM UTC For months, the White House and federal agencies have drawn outrage from critics for social media posts promoting President Trump’s [immigration agenda](https://time.com/7291757/trump-deportation-ice-el-salvador/). Some of the posts deploy jokes or memes. Others use language or images seen as racist dog whistles. This week, the Department of Homeland Security drew pushback for a post that was just one word: [remigrate](https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1978175527329358094). The term, which has been embraced among Trump’s MAGA base, has a fraught history in Europe, where it has ties to white nationalism and has been seen as a euphemism for ethnic cleansing. The short [post](https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1978175527329358094) on X was followed by a link to a government [site](https://www.cbp.gov/about/mobile-apps-directory/cbphome) promoting self-deportation. ## Where “remigration” came from The term “remigration” has traditionally been used in Europe to refer to the mass deportation of non-white immigrants. It has been used by right-winged politicians such as Austria’s Herbert Kickl and Germany’s Alice Weidel of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The term has also been popularized by the Austrian, millennial far-right influencer Martin Sellner. “In Europe, it's an established part of the linguistic toolbox of white supremacy,” Nicholas J. Cull, a professor of communication at the University of Southern California, tells TIME. The use of the term in Germany and Austria has been a trademark of recent anti-immigration campaigns. [Protests](https://www.dw.com/en/germany-marches-against-the-far-right-draw-over-200000/a-68043524#:~:text=draw%20over%20200%2C000-,01/20/2024,isn't%20an%20alternative.%22) across Germany were sparked last year after it was [alleged](https://www.dw.com/en/germany-afd-disputes-remigration-investigative-report/a-67941758) that AfD party members and far-right Austrians were plotting to deport thousands of migrants, causing mass pro-democracy demonstrations. When asked for comment on its post from Tuesday, Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokesperson, responded in an email, “Is the English language too difficult for you?” The message was followed by a Collins English Dictionary definition of the word “remigrate.” The DHS post seems to be a nod to the efforts of the State Department to create an “Office of Remigration,” the plans for which were rolled out through a [proposal](https://www.state.gov/releases/2025/05/next-steps-on-building-an-america-first-state-department/?utm%5Fsource=homepage&utm%5Fmedium=news%5Fbar&utm%5Fcampaign=reorg) in May that called for an overhaul of the agency that would cut a series of programs and reduce domestic staffing. The details of the plan are outlined in a 136-page document that the State Department sent to six Congressional Committees. The document says the Office of Remigration will “actively facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal status.” This year, Trump has embraced the term and used it multiple times on social media. “America was invaded and occupied. I am reversing the Invasion. It’s called Remigration,” he said in one Truth Social [**post**](https://trumpstruth.org/statuses/31490) from June. “Everybody can hear what this means,” Cull says of the DHS post. “It's a clear escalation in the language around issues of migration.” ## A string of similar rhetoric The department’s use of the word and the baggage it carries follows a pattern of posts by Trump and Administration officials that appear to disfavor certain groups living in the U.S. and promote Trump’s mass deportation campaign. In August, the Administration was accused of [quoting](https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1955011982488228231) a white supremacists in a DHS post for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruiting. The department wrote the caption, “which way, American man?” which was argued to reference _Which Way, Western Man_, a 1978 book by the white supremacists William Gayley Simpson, who was a supporter of Hitler. In other posts, the agency depicts an old Morgan Weistling painting of a white family with the caption, “remember your homeland’s heritage,” while misnaming the painting. Other posts [call](https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1952718231455592667) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) applicants to “defend your culture!” One [post](https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1954947502496698416) shows a photo of the Capitol circa 1943 with the caption, “we can return.” Also this week, the U.S. Border Patrol [posted](https://x.com/AFpost/status/1978305706018144460), and then later deleted, an Instagram reel this week that used an antisemitic slur from the Michael Jackson song "They Don't Care About Us,” which was [condemned](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/16/arts/jewish-response-to-jackson.html) by Jewish groups when the song was released in 1995, prompting Jackson to update the song. "Jew me, sue me, Everybody, do me, Kick me, k\*ke me, Don't you black or white me,” the lyrics go in the video, which, unlike certain streaming services that have blurred out the offensive language, were not edited out by the agency. “This is, unfortunately, part of how extreme politics works, that it tries to find ordinary ways to describe horrible and morally abhorrent things,” Cull says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7326233/trump-remigrate-homeland-security/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7326233/trump-remigrate-homeland-security/"},"headline":"Trump's Department of Homeland Security Embraces a Word With Ties to White Nationalism","datePublished":"2025-10-16T18:11:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:50:04.657Z","description":"\"Is the English language too difficult for you?” said a federal official to TIME when asked about the X post","url":"https://time.com/7326233/trump-remigrate-homeland-security/","keywords":["Trump Administration","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd922d894016a8297/6998cada9fbc7c2eafd9a896/GettyImages-2240387733.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Connor Greene","jobTitle":"Editorial Fellow","url":"https://time.com/author/connor-greene/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd922d894016a8297/6998cada9fbc7c2eafd9a896/GettyImages-2240387733.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Portland Residents React To Trump's Threats To Deploy National Guard","caption":"Portland Residents React To Trump's Threats To Deploy National Guard","creditText":"Mathieu Lewis—Rolland/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/trump-administration/","name":"Trump Administration"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7326233/trump-remigrate-homeland-security/","name":"Trump's Department of Homeland Security Embraces a Word With Ties to White Nationalism"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump's DHS Chief Says Habeas Corpus Lets Him 'Remove People From This Country'","description":"Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the constitutional provision that allows people to legally challenge their detention by the government is actually a tool the Trump administration can use in its broader crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border. 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