The Government Keeps Saying ‘Remigration’ and Here’s What It Means
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been openly using the term remigrate. The ideology of remigration has modern roots in the far-right movement spreading across Europe. Among far-right groups in Europe, remigration is a mass deportation strategy to remove immigrants from European nations. Trump administration officials state that the federal government is focusing on migrants, despite the administration’s history of rule-breaking. Yet, the use of the term is alarming elected officials and legal experts.
The federal government is embracing the term “remigration”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made no mystery that they are embracing the term. In October 2025, DHS posted the term “Remigrate” on X (formerly Twitter). In a follow-up post, the DHS social media account linked back to the CBP Home Mobile App webpage. The CBP Home application is a way for immigrants to submit their “self-deportation.”
The Trump administration’s casual use of the term is alarming immigrants, immigrant activists, and legal experts. The European far-right has reinterpreted remigration in recent years, focusing on its use in immigration policy.
“The term ‘remigration’ has a dark past that everyone needs to understand. It was created on the European far right as a coded call for ethnic cleansing, the forced removal of non-white immigrants and even their children,” Representative Mike Levin (D-CA-49) wrote on Facebook. “So when the Trump Administration uses this term or words of the same meaning, it signals an ideology that claims some do not belong here because of their heritage alone.”
Images of remigration movements in Europe are giving experts pause when the Trump administration uses the term “remigration.” As young people march for “remigration” in Europe, the US government has considerably normalized the idea.
The US government has been eyeing this option all year
In May, Reuters reported on the Trump administration’s intention to turn the federal government’s focus away from refugee resettlement. Rather than expanding its footprint, the State Department is consolidating or cutting roughly 300 offices so it can focus more on returning migrants to their home countries. Officials also announced plans to create an Office of Remigration.
According to the report, the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) will be the most impacted. The Handbasket reports that the federal government is creating new offices to absorb USAID. Additionally, there will be three new offices that will focus on “supporting the Administration’s efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status.”
Experts in the legal field have been warning about the implications of the federal government’s recent immigration measures. For months, immigrant advocacy groups have been calling attention to the potential risks for legal residents and even citizens.
The fast-paced deportation pipeline that the Trump administration is building has caught up US citizens, legal residents, and people with protections from removal. Immigration agents have arrested an increasing number of American citizens. ProPublica reports that immigration enforcement has detained more than 170 U.S. citizens.
