Topics: News, US News, Immigration, Donald Trump, Celebrity
Kristen Stewart has been targeted by trolls online after sharing a strange suggestion about protecting immigrants.
The Twilight star had been speaking to reporters, who asked her 'what would break your heart if it disappeared from Los Angeles?'
Without missing a beat, Stewart replied 'immigrants', and expressed a sense of helplessness at the events unfolding in the US.
It comes as Donald Trump's administration continues to enforce increasingly harsh immigration rules.
Advert
Many people, including individuals in the country with a valid visa, have been detained for weeks on end after being taken by ICE agents.
ICE operations in Minnesota have also seen three US citizens killed by ICE agents and the administration has repeatedly threatened to push back against 'sanctuary states', which include the state of California and means a state where local authorities will not co-operate with federal immigration officers.
In the clip, which was posted to Instagram, Stewart shared her opposition, and expressed a sense of helplessness about how people can push back against it.
She said: "I can't stand the idea of the dismantling of the culture that had a hand in making me who I am, which is so meaningless in the face of people's lives being completely unearthed and destroyed.
"This is not who we are. Where I'm from, I don't identify with that right now."
Stewart added: "I can't fathom that it's happening until it doesn't happen. Los Angeles doesn't exist without all of us."
The actor then went on to try and communicate the sense of helplessness that someone might feel, and what any one person can actually do.
"Do we make movies about this?" she said. "Do we throw all of our money at it? Do we stop buying burgers in the daytime? What do we do about this?"
People had a mixed reaction to Stewart's remarks, with some wondering why she would mention burgers when talking about immigration.
Taking to social media, one wrote: "What the hell is she saying."
Another posted: "Words were not her gift. idk whether to say i agree or disagree. what did she just say?"
But someone else had a different approach, writing: "I loved her answer - it was human. Of course an empathetic, logical human can’t easily articulate an illogical situation. If she was well spoken, y’all would be complaining about her 'media training'."
Stewart's burger comment may have been referring to boycotts, a long-time protest strategy aimed at targeting businesses, individuals, or countries which support something the boycotters want to stop.
To give a theoretical example - people might boycott a burger restaurant because the owner called ICE on their employees.
Boycotts were used in the US civil rights movement, and larger scale international boycotts were instrumental in the campaign against apartheid in South Africa.
UNILAD has approached representatives of Kristen Stewart for comment.
