White House fires back at progressive filmmaker: ‘Dumbest statement of the year’

The White House fired back at “disgraced” progressive filmmaker and activist Michael Moore’s criticism of the Trump administration’s deportations, saying his comments are “a strong contender for dumbest statement of the year.”

Moore, who has directed a score of highly politically-charged documentaries, published a lengthy blog post on Tuesday titled, “Our Muslim Boy Wonder,” in which he warned that by deporting illegal immigrants, the U.S. may miss out on the person who could cure cancer, the next equivalent of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, or the person who will save the world from “the asteroid that’s gonna hit us in 2032.”

“Who’s really being removed by ICE tonight?” Moore asked. “The child who would’ve discovered the cure for cancer in 2046? The 9th grade nerd who would’ve stopped that asteroid that’s gonna hit us in 2032? Do we care?”

The filmmaker declared, “For every time I have heard a negative word or blatant hatred spewed toward those who came from afar, I have felt that I should pause, get down on one knee, and thank all of those who gave up their lives elsewhere to come here and be with us.”

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In response, the White House released a statement on Wednesday saying that illegal immigrant killers and rapists “aren’t scholars — they’re criminals.”

“In a strong contender for dumbest statement of the year, disgraced ‘filmmaker’ Michael Moore lamented illegal immigrant criminals being apprehended because they might’ve ‘discovered the cure for cancer’ or ‘stopped that astroid [sic],’” the White House statement said. “The only thing more foolish than that statement are the politicians who oppose the deportations.”

The statement included a listing of some of the worst criminal illegal immigrants arrested thus far. The list included nine child sex predators and rapists as well as kidnappers, murderers and gang members.

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On Jan. 23, 2025, ICE New York administratively arrested Gokhan Adriguzel, a Turkish national, for Entry without Inspection. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

One of those listed was a documented member of the bloodthirsty gang MS-13, Salvadoran national Sergio Arquimides Pineda, who was arrested by ICE Homeland Security Investigations Corpus Christi and convicted of driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault with bodily injury.

Another illegal, Guatemalan national, Edilio Agustin-Orellana, was arrested by ICE Boston and is facing five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, three counts of kidnapping, intimidation and armed home invasion.

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A third arrested migrant listed by the White House was Turkish national Gokhan Adriguzel, who is a known or suspected terrorist, according to officials.

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Trump is pictured in front of the Capitol Building, surrounded by fencing in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025.  (Fox News Digital/Trump-Vance Transition Team)

“Michael Moore is free to visit the quantum computing and particle physics labs that MS-13, TDA [Tren de Aragua], and the cartels are now going to have to set up back home in El Salvador, Venezuela, and Mexico,” quipped White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai.

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In the meantime, Desai said, “the Trump administration will remain focused on putting our own citizens first by mass deporting illegal migrant rapists, murderers, and other criminals out of American communities.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Moore for comment but did not hear back by publication time. 

Fox News Digital writers Adam Shaw and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.