Selena Gomez begged her social media followers to protest President Trump's cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme in an Instagram post on Friday (08Sep17).
The Kill Em With Kindness hitmaker doesn't often get political in her posts but with 126 million followers on the photo-sharing site, she knows she can make a real impact.
The DACA programme was created by President Obama's administration in 2012 to protect children who arrived in the U.S. without legal status before the age of 16. It allows them to attend school, study at college or work without the risk of deportation. There are currently about 800,000 people in the country, nicknamed Dreamers, who receive protection as a result.
Selena, 25, took to Instagram and posted a photo of her heartfelt message which read: “My definition of a dreamer is someone that thinks big and believes anything is possible. The wonderful people being threatened by the unfortunate reversal of DACA are exactly that."
She then urged her fans to: "Please call the White House, your local member of Congress and state Senators to let your voice be heard to defend DACA!”
The post included a link, which allows fans to look up their local elected officials.
Selena's decision to start using her celebrity platform for political gain is clearly inspired by her current appearance on the cover of Time magazine's special Firsts: Women Who Are Changing the World issue. The cover salutes the Bad Liar singer's September 2016 achievement in becoming the first person to amass 100 million Instagram followers.
She shared her cover on Thursday (07Sep17), naturally on Instagram, writing proudly: "When I read about the beautiful women who wake up consciously every day to make a change, it inspires me to want to do so much more. Not really sure how I got so lucky @time but thank you for highlighting the power of what we can and will always strive to be.
"I believe in the goodness in the land of the living. I hope this is just the beginning of more change."
