White House Refuses to Comment on 'Deport Justin Bieber' Petition
The Obama administration has stated that they will not take a position on the White House website petition calling for the deportation of Canadian pop star Justin Bieber.
After several weeks of waiting, the White House finally released an official response on Easter weekend to the petition, which had garnered more than 278,000 signatures.
"Sorry to disappoint, but we won't be commenting on this one," reads the response, titled "Believing in Immigration Reform."
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"So we'll leave it to others to comment on Mr. Bieber's case, but we're glad you care about immigration issues. Because our current system is broken. Too many employers game the system by hiring undocumented workers, and 11 million people are living in the shadows."
The official response went on to outline an immigration reform platform endorsed by President Barack Obama that the White House hopes Congress will enact.
"Thanks for your petition. While we weren't able to address your direct concerns about Mr. Bieber, we hope you believe your We the People experience was a positive one," concluded the response.
In January, a petition was posted on the White House's "We The People" website calling for the government to deport Bieber.
The petition came in response to the Canadian-born pop star being arrested for alleging driving under the influence and drag-racing in Miami.
"We the people of the United States feel that we are being wrongly represented in the world of pop culture. We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive and drug abusing Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked," reads the petition.
"He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nation's youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society."
In order to be granted an official response from the White House, the petition had to garner 100,000 signatures by Saturday, Feb. 22.
Within days of being posted, the petition passed the 100,000 mark. After a week the number of signatures more than doubled, passing the 200,000 milestone. By the end of February, over 264,000 Americans expressed their desire to have Bieber deported.
The petition was created by Roger Skrzynski, a 24-year-old resident of Riverview, Mich., a suburb of Detroit.
"I'm just listening on the radio about Bieber's problems … and thought: 'How funny would it be to be the first to get a petition up there real quick and get a response from the White House?" explained Skrzynski to MLive.com.
"He needs [help] obviously. And he needs to realize he's negatively influencing the children who grew up listening to him."
