By Felicia J. Persaud

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Sun. June 14, 2026:

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.

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.