A single-word social media post from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sparked political and media backlash. A post that read “Remigrate” was followed by a link promoting voluntary self-deportation. It drew attention from left-leaning outlets and social media users who noted that the term has been used by far-right groups in Europe advocating for the mass return of immigrants to preserve national identity.
CNN noted that Adolf Hitler once weighed “remigration policies,” and that neo-Nazis later adopted the word in slogans on t-shirts. Jakob Guhl, director of policy, research and counterterrorism for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told CNN the word is linked with extremist movements and its ambiguity “really allows the far right to push this term and have people kind of interpret it in the way they prefer.”
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Homeland Security responds
When asked about the post, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded to several media outlets with the same statement, “Is the English language too difficult for you?” and cited the Collins English Dictionary definition: “to migrate again; migrate back; or return.” She added that the agency “urges all illegal aliens to remigrate and self-deport using the CBP Home app.”
DHS said in September that an estimated 1.6 million immigrants have voluntarily self-deported in 2025.
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Straight Arrow News the word likely refers to lawful repatriation, not extreme ideology.
“If you look carefully enough, you can find people using it on the extreme end of the spectrum,” he said. “In a hot debate like immigration, you know there is going to be feuding over this word and people are going to attribute meaning to it that may not have been intended.”
According to State Department sources who spoke to Axios, the Trump administration plans to establish an “Office of Remigration” to facilitate the voluntary return of migrants to their country of origin or legal residence.
