Fact Check: Did State Department tell Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres to migrate legally to US?

WASHINGTON, DC: After moving to the United Kingdom following President Donald Trump’s return to power, a rumor began circulating on social media platforms claiming that the State Department had told Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres to wait and migrate legally if they wanted to return to the United States.

Let us analyze and fact-check the claim.

Claim: State Department told Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres to immigrate legally

According to the viral claim, Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres want to return to the US because they allegedly renounced America and forfeited their citizenship.

In response, the State Department allegedly said that if they wanted to come back, they would have to wait their turn and immigrate legally, which could take upwards of a decade.

The claim has spread across multiple social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X, garnering hundreds of thousands of views.

Many users in the comments criticized the two television hosts over the alleged development, indicating that they believed the claim to be authentic.

Fact Check: The claim originated as a satire

The claim, however, is false, as there is no evidence that the State Department made such a remark through a statement or official announcement. There are also no credible reports suggesting that O'Donnell or DeGeneres expressed a desire to return to the US.

A Google search for the State Department’s alleged remark and the duo’s supposed wish to migrate back produced no relevant results from prominent media outlets, which likely would have covered the story if it were true.

Moreover, the post was accompanied by an image of O'Donnell and DeGeneres featuring a small overlay in the bottom-right corner labeled “Satire.”

Hence, the claim originated as a parody created for engagement.

Ellen DeGeneres stays in UK after Trump win

In July 2025, DeGeneres moved to England the day after Trump was re-elected US president, saying life “is just better” in the UK.

"We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, 'He got in'," she said. "And we're like, 'We're staying here'."

Meanwhile, Rosie O'Donnell returned to the United States in February after a self-imposed political exile in Ireland following Trump’s re-election.

“I was recently home for two weeks, and I did not really tell anyone,” she said in a podcast. “I just went to see my family. I wanted to see how hard it would be for me to get in and out of the country. I wanted to feel what it felt like. I wanted to hold my children again. And I hadn’t been home in over a year.”