Since the second Trump administration took power in January, the United States has suffered a judicial crisis, the systematic erasure of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC history, and the deportations of non-white citizens, including children with cancer. Amongst the onslaught of authoritarian policies suffocating the liberties of Americans is Trump’s mass deportation strategy. Trump once referred to this strategy as “remigration,” a term popularized by Martin Sellner, an Austrian white nationalist with a neo-Nazi past, which relies heavily on false claims that the United States and European countries are being “invaded” and their people and culture “replaced” by migrants.
“Invasion” claims consistently pushed by American politicians, and others worldwide, are rooted in the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, a thoroughly debunked claim, often linked to antisemitism, purporting a planned “replacement” of white people by politicians and other “elites.” Trump and his mass deportation plans have received widespread support from extremists, such as the transnational neo-Nazi Active Club movement, vigilantes near the southern border, the Proud Boys, who helped to organize the January 6 Capitol riots, and online extremists on 4chan.
Martin Sellner’s proposed “solution” to the so-called “Great Replacement” is remigration, a term used to explicitly call for the forced deportations en masse of migrants, including citizens, back to their “home countries.” In essence, remigration is the means to enact an ethnic cleansing. It’s endorsed by far-right political parties such as Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD), a party endorsed by JD Vance during a visit to Germany, and was classified, pending an appeal, by Germany’s intelligence agency as “far-right extremist.” Several American white nationalists and eugenicists associated with American Renaissance (AmRen), one of the longest standing white supremacist groups in the country led by Yale graduate Jared Taylor, gathered in late 2024 to discuss remigration proposals with Europeans like Sellner and member of the Italian neo-nazi organization CasaPound. In September 2024, Donald Trump signaled an overt alignment with Sellner’s ethnic cleansing plan when he invoked “remigration” in a tweet about “end[ing] the migrant invasion of America.”
Donald Trump invokes “remigration,” a call for ethnic cleansing, in a September 2024 tweet about “end[ing] the migrant invasion of America” (Source: Twitter).
The Trump administration, intentionally or not, has ideologically aligned itself with a former neo-Nazi whose past is mired in controversy and connections to violence. Make no mistake, Trump’s authoritarian crusade plays right into the hands of dangerous white nationalists. The fear is some may even feel galvanized enough to commit atrocities just as the Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter, a staunch believer in the “Great Replacement,” did six years ago.
Martin Sellner And The Origins Of “Remigration”
The “remigration” policy proposal was designed and popularized by Austrian Identitarian Martin Sellner, who once belonged to an openly neo-Nazi group called “Stolz und Frei” (Proud and Free), was mentored by Gottfried Küssel, who was imprisoned twice in Austria for “Nazi revivalism,” and once stuck a swastika poster onto a synagogue in Baden bei Wien, Austria.
Since shifting his focus to Identitarianism and the pan-European Generation Identity network, of which he was the unofficial leader, Sellner has been a relentless propagator of the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. This earned him admiration from the Christchurch mosque attacker, who, inspired by the conspiracy theory, killed 51 people and injured another 89 in a series of mass shootings targeting two New Zealand mosques. During the subsequent investigation, it was revealed the shooter donated nearly $1,700 to the Identitarian movement and exchanged emails with Sellner, though no charges were brought against Sellner.
Over the past couple of years, Sellner has been sharing his “remigration” policy proposal, which he sees as a 30-year plan toward making countries “European again” and devoid of “multiculturalism.” Sellner discussed this ethnic cleansing strategy in a secret meeting with high-ranking figures of the AfD, sparking mass protests against the party. In November 2024, Sellner was invited to, and virtually attended, the white nationalist American Renaissance conference to discuss his remigration policy proposal. In essence, the remigration envisioned by Sellner is what white nationalists hope mass deportations in the U.S. will lead to. In fact, Sellner has even credited Trump for “exploding” the term transnationally.
Martin Sellner credits Trump for helping to make “remigration” popular worldwide. Translated from German (Source: Telegram).
Sellner, capitalizing on the popularity of remigration by extremists in the U.S. and transnationally, published a remigration “pitch” on a website he created to explain the goal. He calls remigration “the necessary and overdue reaction to decades of replacement migration and the great replacement,” and specifically targets the U.S. as a country which needs to “make [remigration] happen again!”
Sellner specifically targets the United States as a country which can “make [remigration] happen again.” (Source: whatisremigration)
In order to achieve his goal of ethnic cleansing, he outlines three primary “target groups” for remigration: so-called “illegal” immigrants, non-citizens who are “an economical, criminal, or [a] cultural burden,” and citizens who he believes are “non assimilated” and “part of foreign parallel societies” – essentially calling for the systematic deportations of anyone who is not white. Sellner’s system of remigration involves three “phases:” immediate, short-term, and long-term. The Trump administration’s current policies share some eerie similarities to Sellner’s proposal, indicating the government’s ideological alignment with a man whose views are so extreme he once defaced a synagogue with a swastika poster and presented his remigration proposal to a group of high-profile American white nationalists only last year.
Sellner advocates for not only “illegal” immigrants to be deported, but also citizens who he deems are “non assimilated” (Source: whatisremigration).
U.S. Policy Mirrors Ethnic Cleansing Plan
The first, and immediate, phase of remigration involves several actions which the Trump administration is already undertaking. In “Phase A,” Sellner outlines several tools that countries can use to begin the remigration process, calling for countries like the U.S. to “secure the border, [and] legalize pushbacks,” “stop accepting any new asylum requests from economic migrants,” and “create an ultimatum with small incentives for voluntary return.” These steps will culminate in the completion of Sellner’s first goal of remigration, which is to “deport all illegals to their country (sic) of origin.” “Phase B” and “Phase C” of Sellner’s plan are longer-term, working towards “healing” the so-called “wounds of multiculturalism” within a 30-year timeframe.
Following up on his promise to call a national emergency to carry out mass deportations, including by using the military, Trump’s policies are aligned with those suggested by Sellner in Phase A of his ethnic cleansing plan. In March, the administration re-launched the CBP One asylum app, which was originally created to process asylum claims, to encourage migrants to “self-deport” instead – a move Sellner would agree with, as he suggested governments “stop accepting any new asylum requests from economic migrants.”
To “secure the border and legalize pushbacks,” Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act on the basis of a migratory “invasion,” a term rooted in the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, in order to justify deporting people quickly. On May 1, 2025, a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas found the White House’s use of the statute to be illegal. The case is ongoing. The Trump administration also declared a military zone around El Paso, Texas, in order to allow military personnel to arrest and deport migrants should they cross onto military grounds.
And, in early May, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller began issuing warnings to migrants, telling them to “leave now” with monetary incentives or face a series of punishments, such as “a fine of [$1,000] daily,” “prosecution and imprisonment,” “forfeiture of all assets,” “garnishment of all wages,” “confiscation of all property,” and “deportation.” Sellner would likely endorse these actions, as the former neo-Nazi’s own proposal stipulates that governments should “create an ultimatum with small incentives for voluntary return.”
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller issues small incentives for migrants’ voluntary return while also providing them with an ultimatum if they don’t, mirroring Sellner’s exact suggestion in Phase A of remigration (Source: Twitter).
Despite only being around 100 days into Trump’s second presidency, there are already some parallels between the administration’s policies and phases B and C of Sellner’s ethnic cleansing plan.
One of the “tools” required to enact Phase B, which seeks a “massive reduction of the problematic foreign population,” is to ensure “all resident permits are meticulously checked and revoked if the person is a cultural or economic burden.” Similarly, the Trump administration, in a crackdown of First Amendment rights, has been targeting pro-Palestenian activists such as green card holder Mahmoud Khalil who was detained by ICE for his involvement in pro-Palestine university protests. Khalil was detained for alleged antisemitic actions which could have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” indicating the Trump administration’s willingness to strip migrants of their legal residency status if their speech doesn’t align with the Trump administration’s beliefs or views. On May 7, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the government will be reviewing the visa statuses of people who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University’s Butler Library, during which 75 people were arrested.
Phase C, which focuses more on the total erasure of non-white culture, is meant to “slow down, stop & revert the growth of parallel societies,” and encourages governments to “stop any funding of anti-white/patriotic propaganda, individuals & institutions,” instead “promoting and supporting patriotic incentives.” Anti-white is a label frequently used by far-right groups around the world to disingenuously imply that multiculturalism and religious tolerance is equivalent to racism and discrimination against traditionally dominant racial or ethnic groups, meaning the white population. Supporters of Project 2025, the authoritarian playbook spearheaded by the far-right Heritage Foundation and now followed by the Trump administration, railed against “anti-white racism,” which Project 2025 supporter Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk blamed on the 1964 Civil Rights Act long before Trump was elected.
Since taking power, Trump has issued anti-DEI orders that have systematically erased BIPOC contributions to American history from government websites. Those erased include the Navajo Code Talkers, military heroes whose Indigenous languages helped secure Allied victory in World War II, and the 369th Infantry Regiment, which was the first Black unit of the New York National Guard, along with several other Indigenous and Black groups and individuals who made significant contributions in the United States.
Trump’s mass deportation plan, inspired by extremists with violent connections like Sellner, is just one of many policies GPAHE has been sounding the alarm about during America’s current authoritarian turn. Authoritarian policies enacted by the Trump administration are already causing harm to American communities, including career civil servants, children in need of child care and early education programs, migrant families, and Indigenous tribes. A growing sentiment amongst political scientists that the U.S. is on its way to authoritarianism only makes the threat of Trump’s administration more salient, evidenced by experts in fascism fleeing to Canada in fear of the U.S. becoming a “fascist dictatorship.”
