Actor and activist Richard Gere delivered a blistering critique of the Trump administration's immigration policies and Republican rhetoric during a speech in Berlin on Thursday, saying he is “deeply ashamed” of the language being used to describe migrants.
Speaking at the launch of a joint migration initiative by the Hertie School Centre for Fundamental Rights and The Gere Foundation, the actor praised the long history of migration and its contributions to society. “Yet, somehow, in today's debates, we often speak about migrants, about refugees, as if they were different from us,” he said.
Gere specifically took aim at the administration's evolving terminology for migrants. “I think the term I was actually given today – apparently the U.S. government is calling aliens,” he said. “Aliens, that's the latest. It had been vermin, now it's aliens. I'm deeply ashamed of this, I want you to know. They belong to another category of human beings, as if their hopes and fears and aspirations were somehow less legitimate than our own.” This shift in language comes as Congress prepares for a vote-a-rama on immigration funding, with the administration pushing for tougher enforcement measures.
Reflecting on his own family history, Gere noted that he had “four or five people on the Mayflower,” the ship that brought Pilgrims to Massachusetts in the early 1600s. “So, we all left and our parents left, our grandparents, to make a journey in search of safety, of opportunity, dignity, or simply to look for a better future,” he said. “Human history is in many ways the history of migration, of movement.”
Gere, who moved to Spain in 2024, questioned whether anyone imagined “that America could sink to this level” under Trump. He asked, “Did you ever imagine that someone as crazy as this would become President of the United States and work to destroy it?” The actor has been a vocal critic of Trump for years, and earlier this week at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway, he called the president a “maniac” and referenced a visit to the Dachau concentration camp, warning: “We have to see the cues — this dictatorship of the monsters — how quickly it happens.”
His remarks come amid Senate moves on a $70 billion immigration bill following a GOP revolt over Trump's so-called “anti-weaponization” fund. Gere's warnings about authoritarianism echo concerns raised by some lawmakers as the administration pursues an aggressive immigration crackdown.
In February 2025, while accepting an award at Spain's Goya Awards, Gere blasted Trump as a “bully” and a “thug,” and warned that authoritarianism can take hold anywhere. “Authoritarianism takes us all over,” he said. “We have to be vigilant, we have to be alert, we have to be energetic. We have to be brave. We have to be courageous.”
Gere's critiques highlight a growing divide over immigration policy, with GOP infighting over immigration funding and FISA extension causing internal fury. The actor's comments also resonate with broader concerns about dehumanizing rhetoric in political discourse, as the administration continues to use terms like “aliens” and “vermin” to describe migrants.
