Nicki Minaj is back at the center of a political firestorm, and this time it is not over a lyric or a feud but a years old confession about how she first arrived in the United States. A 2018 post in which she described coming to America “as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old” has resurfaced just as petitions demand her deportation and critics question whether her support for President Donald Trump squares with that past. The collision of an old Facebook memory and a very current MAGA moment has turned her immigration story into a proxy battle over who gets to claim the American dream.
The 2018 “illegal immigrant” post that came back to bite
When I look at the uproar swirling around Nicki Minaj this week, it really starts with that 2018 message, written at the height of outrage over family separations at the border. In that post, she said, “I came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old,” and described imagining the “horror” of children being taken from their parents, a sentiment that has now been resurfaced and recirculated across fan pages and political accounts. One recap of the controversy notes that used that exact while condemning the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their families at the U.S. Mexico border.
That history matters because it undercuts any attempt to paint her as vague about her status. Separate posts shared by critics point out that Nicki Minaj has as a child with “reported undocumented status upon arrival.” Another widely shared summary stresses that Nicki Minaj is, a detail that has become central as opponents argue she should not be weighing in on American politics while cheering on Trump.
From anti Trump immigration post to MAGA stage and deportation petitions
The whiplash for many fans is not just that the old post resurfaced, it is that it is resurfacing now, after Nicki has aligned herself with the very movement she once blasted over immigration. In 2018 she was calling out the Trump administration for ripping families apart, yet more recently she has appeared at Turning Point USA’s America themed event and praised the president for his efforts. One Instagram post notes that Tens of thousands of people responded by signing a petition calling for Nicki Minaj’s deportation after that Turning Point USA America appearance, arguing that her rhetoric had crossed a line.
Those petitions have only grown. Another campaign, shared widely on social media, says Over 100,000 people have now backed an online demand that Nicki Minaj be deported to her home country, Trinidad and Tobago, before the start of 2026. A separate description of the backlash explains that petition urges that, where she was born before moving to the U.S. at age five. Another summary of the same push notes that rapper Nicki Minaj as opponents try to turn her childhood journey into grounds for expulsion.
Legally, those petitions are more symbolic than substantive. Coverage of the controversy stresses that petitions do show over her political affiliations, they do not really hold much legal weight and she actually cannot be deported in the way signers imagine. Even so, the sheer volume of signatures, including the 100,000 people figure cited in one description, has turned her immigration history into a public referendum on who gets to be both immigrant and MAGA.
Citizenship questions, Don Lemon, and a fandom split
As the petitions gained steam, the focus shifted from paperwork to principle, with critics asking whether Nicki should be championing a president whose policies once targeted families like hers. One widely shared explainer revisits that 2018 moment, noting that Back in 2018, for separating children from their parents and warned that the United States could become an ICE detention center. Another recap of the same post underscores that Nicki Minaj’s 2018 is now being circulated specifically because it clashes with her current support for Donald Trump.
Her citizenship status has become its own subplot. A detailed breakdown of the petitions asks, Nicki Minaj a, and notes that in a 2024 livestream Minaj said she was not a U.S. citizen and that she moved here at the age of 5. Another social media post amplifying the backlash repeats that Nicki Minaj has with undocumented status, while another summary of the deportation push stresses that growing number of want her sent back before the start of 2026.
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