US embassy in Mexico prompts outrage with AI video promoting ‘self-deportation’ | US-Mexico border
An AI-generated video from the US embassy in Mexico encouraging immigrants to “self-deport” has sparked skepticism and outrage online.
The video, posted on official embassy social media accounts this week, shows a group of men wearing black hats and sporting tattoos performing a type of traditional Mexican ballad known as a corrido.
“The corridor rings loudly in your homeland; return to your roots,” sings the AI artist. “You don’t have to go far to go forward. Listen to what they say: The power of Mexico is within you.”
The social media post also includes a link to CBP Home, a website that helps immigrants in the United States return to their home countries.
The video made headlines in Mexican news outlets and was met with condemnation on social media.
“What a pathetic ad,” said one X user.
“Your retirees and digital nomads can spend their money in their own countries,” one user said on Instagram, referring to the large population of U.S. citizens in Mexico. “An eloquent, supremacist ‘go back to your country’ message,” said another.
Uruguayan-American influencer Carlos Eduardo Espina, who has 14.3 million followers on TikTok, posted a reaction clip to the embassy video. “How ridiculous,” Espina said in the video, which has been viewed 70,000 times. “This government is truly full of crazy people.”
It’s not the first time a video of US officials targeting immigrants has sparked controversy.
Last year, then-U.S. homeland security secretary Kristi Noem released a series of video ads encouraging immigrants to self-deport or stay home. Video ads were played on Mexican television.
“If you’re thinking of entering America illegally, don’t even think about it,” he said in a TV ad. “You will be caught, you will be removed, and you will never come back.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the videos were “discriminatory.” He later said he would ask the Mexican Congress to pass a law banning such ads from appearing in the country.
“We will change the law that will prohibit foreign governments from making political and ideological propaganda in our country,” Sheinbaum said at the press conference.
