The Human Rights Alliance strongly condemns the White House’s newly launched “Aliens.gov” website and the rhetoric surrounding its promotion. While presented as a clever political marketing campaign, the site employs language and imagery that are deeply troubling, profoundly dehumanizing, and morally reprehensible. By comparing immigrants and undocumented people to extraterrestrial
invaders, describing them as beings who “walk among us,” and encouraging the public to report “suspicious aliens,” the federal government has crossed a line that no democratic society should tolerate.
Words matter. History teaches us that before communities are excluded, persecuted, detained, or expelled, they are first stripped of their humanity. Throughout history, marginalized populations have been labeled as vermin, invaders, threats, diseases, criminals, and outsiders. Such language is never accidental. It is designed to create fear. It is designed to separate “us” from “them.” It is designed to make cruelty easier to justify.
The White House website deliberately adopts the language and aesthetics of science fiction horror and conspiracy theories, declaring that
immigrants have secretly infiltrated our communities and that they “do not belong here.” It presents human beings as a hidden threat living among ordinary Americans. This is not responsible governance. This is propaganda.
As President of the Human Rights Alliance, I believe we must speak plainly. This rhetoric is not merely offensive. It is dangerous. It encourages suspicion of neighbors. It fuels xenophobia. It normalizes the idea that entire categories of people should be viewed first as threats rather than as human beings. It invites Americans to see immigrants not as parents, children, workers, students, refugees, asylum seekers, or members of their communities, but as something fundamentally “other.”
For many LGBTQIA2S people, immigrants, religious minorities, people of color, and
countless other marginalized communities, this language sounds painfully familiar. We have heard versions of it before. We know where it leads. We know what happens when governments encourage citizens to fear their neighbors rather than understand them.
The Human Rights Alliance recognizes that nations have the right to establish immigration policies and enforce immigration laws. Reasonable people may disagree about specific policies, border security measures, or enforcement priorities. However, there is a profound moral difference between debating policy and engaging in dehumanization. Governments can enforce laws without demonizing human beings. They can address immigration challenges without resorting to fear campaigns that portray entire populations as dangerous intruders.
At its core, this issue is not about immigration policy. It is about human dignity.
Every person possesses inherent worth. Every person deserves to be spoken about with respect. Every person is more than a political talking point, a statistic, or a caricature designed to generate clicks and outrage.
The Human Rights Alliance rejects the notion that any human being should be described as an alien threat. We reject language that portrays our neighbors as less than human. We reject efforts to build political power through fear, suspicion, and division.
Most importantly, we affirm a simple truth that should never be controversial: immigrants are people. Refugees are people. Asylum seekers
are people. Undocumented people are people. Their humanity is not up for debate.
In this moment, our nation needs leaders willing to elevate our shared humanity, not exploit our fears. We need public officials who understand that dignity is not reserved for some people. It belongs to all people.
The Human Rights Alliance calls upon elected leaders, faith communities, civil rights organizations, and people of conscience across the country to reject this rhetoric and recommit themselves to the fundamental principle that every human being deserves to be treated with dignity, respect, and compassion.
Anything less is beneath the ideals we claim to uphold.
M. A. D’Arrigo
HRA Board President