For Immigrant and Caribbean American Heritage Month, the White House chooses dehumanization

For decades, June has been a month of recognition. National Immigrant Heritage Month celebrates the contributions of generations of immigrants who helped build the United States. Caribbean American Heritage Month recognizes the millions of Caribbean immigrants and their descendants who have shaped American business, politics, healthcare, education, culture, and public life.

This year, however, the White House chose a different message. Rather than issuing a proclamation recognizing either observance, the Trump administration launched a new government webpage titled simply: “Aliens.”

At first glance, the site looks like something from a science-fiction movie. A black-and-neon-green color scheme.

Warnings about “aliens walking among us,” an “Alien Arrest Map,” references to “declassification” and language suggesting an invasion hidden from the American public.

Only after reading further does the visitor realize the administration is not talking about extraterrestrials. It is talking about immigrants.

“They walk among us,” “They do not belong here,” “Millions arrived under the cover of darkness.” These are all exact quotes from the site. For many Americans, this may seem like political messaging.

For immigrants, it feels like something more troubling — it feels like dehumanization.

Throughout history, societies have often begun by changing the language used to describe people before changing how those people are treated.

Immigrants become “invaders;” refugees become “threats;” human beings become categories.

The American Immigration Council has criticized the site as state-sponsored dehumanization, arguing that the administration is deliberately using the double meaning of the legal term “alien” to portray immigrants as foreign invaders rather than people.

Even Ernesto Verdeja, a genocide prevention scholar at the University of Notre Dame, described the website as “grotesque and terrifying and juvenile” to New York Times op ed writer, M. Gessen.

What makes the webpage particularly striking is not simply its content. It is the timing. The site was launched during National Immigrant Heritage Month and Caribbean American Heritage Month.

The United States is home to approximately 51.9 million immigrants. More than 8 million Americans trace their roots to the Caribbean.

These immigrants are not hiding among us. They are us. They are nurses and teachers. Business owners and military veterans. Home health aides and doctors. Journalists, entrepreneurs, taxpayers, and neighbors.

Many voted for Donald Trump himself. In 2024, nearly half of Hispanic voters supported Trump, along with significant numbers of Asian and Black voters.

Yet, a growing number now appear to be questioning that support as immigration enforcement expands and the rhetoric intensifies.

The issue is not whether a nation has borders. Every nation does. The issue is whether the White House still sees immigrants as human beings.

Because when the highest office in the land chooses to spend Immigrant Heritage Month portraying immigrants as creatures who “walk among us” and “do not belong here,” it tells us something far more important than where the administration stands on immigration.

It tells us how it chooses to define belonging.

And history teaches us that once governments begin redefining who belongs, the consequences rarely stop with immigrants. The language may begin with “aliens,” but it never ends there.

Felicia J. Persaud is the founder and publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, the only daily syndicated newswire and digital platform dedicated exclusively to Caribbean Diaspora and Black immigrant news across the Americas.