Photo: John Moore/Getty Images
For: Vanessa Cardenas Posted Jan 31, 2023, 23:37 pm EST
Over the next few weeks, House Republicans on the Judiciary and Oversight committees will launch their new barrage of aggression as part of their political theater to show how intense their bigoted and anti-immigrant attacks are. Although some consider these hearings as a simple act for the cameras, the reality is that they should be treated with much more seriousness. Racist rhetoric and conspiracy theories are not only “sound bites” used by outlets like Fox News, since they have contributed to the loss of human life, but they also make the risks of future violence unbelievably higher.
Although these hearings have been promoted as a way for Congress to police “border security,” the reality is that they will not address immigration challenges, but will instead be a forum for House Republicans to expose their demagogy. The urgency to reform our anachronistic immigration system is more evident by the day, but a serious conversation about solutions will not be heard from those members of the Republican Party. Instead, we will see these hearings used as a platform to fuel hate and racist conspiracy theories, and falsely claim that there is a literal “invasion” on the southern border, as Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) put it in promoting this audience. This rhetoric should not be misconstrued as simple exaggeration. The language of a so-called “invasion” of migrants is inextricably linked to the anti-Semitic and white nationalist theory of the Great Replacement.
Anyone covering these hearings needs to understand the origins of that rhetoric and language, and how it was used by white nationalists in Charlottesville in 2017, who chanted “You Will Not Replace Us” and “The Jews Will Not Replace Us.” Stopping the “Hispanic invasion” was allegedly the motive of the gunman who murdered 23 people in an El Paso Walmart in 2019, according to a text he wrote himself. The specific language of an “invasion” and a “replacement” was copied by the white nationalist terrorist who murdered 10 people in Buffalo, NY, last May. This must be the context in any newspaper report on the hearings and the strategy of the Republican Party.
Far from what is intended with the congressional hearings, the political theater that we are about to witness could provoke political violence and terrorism, which is one of the biggest concerns of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This past November and December, DHS issued repeated warnings about serious threats to critical infrastructure and immigrant communities from domestic terrorism influenced by anti-immigrant ideology.
If these hearings were intended to solve immigration challenges, there would be legislative proposals underway to fix the problem. Instead, the Republicans stick with the border wall and ending our asylum system. As Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX-23), a member of the Republican caucus, noted: “Trying to ban legitimate asylum claims: First of all, it’s not Christian, and second of all, to me, it’s very un-American.”
For the most part, Gonzales’s colleagues seem unconcerned about stoking hate and violence. Rather, many members of the Republican caucus enthusiastically accept it. Both the Judiciary committee and the Oversight committee are packed with some of the most bigoted bigots on Capitol Hill. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has handed over the microphones of these committees to, among others, Congressmen Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, who will use their positions to push and promote conspiracies. white nationalists on immigration and the border, but this time aimed at a much broader audience.
How do we know this? Because we monitor what they say, tweet and announce. America’s Voice looked at Republican Party ads in the past election cycle and found more than 700 examples using dangerous “invasion” and “replacement” conspiracy language in the campaign messages of more than 80 Republican candidates.
These congressional hearings are not about public policy or solutions. They are meant to continue the peal of anti-immigrant hate we saw during the midterm elections. We are going to witness his opening acts in the coming weeks, and it will only get worse. They’re acting for Fox News, populating their fundraising ads and mobilizing their radical base, but these racist conspiracy theories and dehumanizing rhetoric have real-life consequences. Recent history has shown us how hate speech leads to political violence, and these hearings will add fuel to the fire.