(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Shortly before Tuesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the border crisis began, Democrats released a statement accusing their Republican counterparts of using the meeting to “amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories.”
Good morning and good luck to everyone except @GOPoversight members who are using today's hearing to amplify white nationalist conspiracy theories instead of a comprehensive solution to protect our borders and strengthen our immigration system.https://t.co/V4kv8twk5a
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) February 7, 2023
This didn’t sit well with African–American Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who expressed disgust at the race-baiting tweet.
“My colleagues on the other side of the aisle who want to state that we’re using this hearing for white nationalism—I’m not doing that,” he said during the hearing.
“So if you feel that strongly come to this side of the room and let’s talk about it face to face,” he added. “But leave that kind of silly stuff for somebody else. This stuff is serious.”
No Democrat took up Donalds’s offer to talk face to face. Nor did any take the advice of Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wisc., who suggested that they denounce the race-baiting tweet.
The tweet in question links to an article by the pro-immigration group America’s Voice. It accuses Republicans of promoting the “Great Replacement Theory”—which holds that a shadowy group of elites is seeking to replace white citizens with nonwhite immigrants.
In broader terms, however, Democrats have themselves admitted to—and even celebrated—the ploy to import new voters from corrupt, socialist countries.
“The only way we’re going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants—the DREAMers and all of them—because our ultimate goal is to help the DREAMers, but get a path to citizenship for all 11 million, or however many undocumented there are here,” then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in November.
The America’s Voice article did not offer any direct evidence of Republicans promoting this theory. Instead, it listed numerous times Republicans made accurate statements about border crossings.
For example, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has issued numerous tweets over the years comparing the number of crossings to populations in Ohio cities.
“There were 164,973 illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border in February. That’s more than the population of Dayton, Ohio,” Jordan said in one such tweet.
There were 164,973 illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border in February.
That's more than the population of Dayton, Ohio.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 16, 2022
Perhaps more bizarrely, the America’s Voice article accused Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., of being “all but a card-carrying white nationalist.”
The evidence for this, according to America’s Voice, is that Gosar would rather devote resources to America’s border than Ukraine’s.
Another Gosar statement America’s Voice accused of being racist was when he advocated for more border agents instead of tax collectors.
“We don’t need more IRS agents pestering our citizens; instead, we need 87,000 more Border Patrol Agents fighting the invasion along our southern border,” Gosar said on Jan. 10.
While no Democrats renounced the race-baiting tweet or the article linked therein, none stood up during the hearing to defend the baseless accusations, either.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., wrapped up the controversy by reminding members to adhere to the House rules of decorum.
“It’s a violation of House rules to engage in personal attacks or question colleagues’ motives,” he said.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
