US embassy in Mexico prompts outrage with AI video promoting ‘self-deportation’ | US-Mexico border
An AI-generated video from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico encouraging migrants to “self-deport” has sparked disbelief and outrage online.
Video posted this week on the embassy’s official social media accounts shows a group of men wearing black caps and sporting tattoos performing a type of traditional Mexican ballad known as corrido.
“The corrido resonates loudly in your country, return to your roots,” sings the IA interpreter. “You don’t have to go far to advance. Listen to what you say: Mexican power is within you.”
The social media post also contains a link to CBP Home, a website that helps migrants in the United States return to their home countries.
The video made headlines in Mexican newspapers and received condemnation on social media.
“What a pathetic advertisement,” said one X user.
“Your retirees and digital nomads can spend their money in their home countries,” one user said on Instagram, referring to the large population of U.S. citizens in Mexico. “A supremacist message of ‘go back to your country’ with beautiful words,” said another.
Carlos Eduardo Espina, a Uruguayan-American influencer with 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. »
This is not the first time that a video from American authorities intended for migrants has sparked controversy.
Last year, then-U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem launched a number of video ads urging migrants to self-deport or stay home. The video advertisements were broadcast on Mexican television.
“If you’re thinking about entering America illegally, don’t even think about it,” she said in a TV spot. “You will be caught, you will be expelled, and you will never come back.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the videos “discriminatory.” She later said she would ask the Mexican Congress to pass a law banning the broadcast of such advertisements in the country.
“We will change the law to prohibit foreign governments from carrying out political and ideological propaganda in our country,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference.
