Washington, DC – During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland noted:
“Racially-motivated violent extremists as a group are the most dangerous of the domestic violent extremist groups … and within that the white supremacists are the most dangerous and most lethal” (see a recap from Talking Points Memo for more details).
AG Garland’s testimony follows a late 2022 analysis from DHS that assessed that domestic extremists, including those motivated by anti-immigrant ideology, are among the greatest threats to national security and public safety. Multiple acts of domestic terror in places such as Charlottesville, El Paso, Poway, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh are real world examples underscoring AG Garland’s and DHS’ assessments.
In this context and despite the proven incidents of real world violence and continued threat analyses, Republicans continue to mainstream dangerous white nationalist conspiracies of “replacement” and “invasion.”
- Over the first five weeks of the House Republican majority, they have held five border-related committee hearings and at all five they have platformed these white nationalist conspiracies.
- In the 2022 midterms, according to the America’s Voice ad tracking project, Republicans’ relentless focus on nativism included 3,200 different paid communications on anti-immigrant themes, including more than 700 examples of GOP use of the dangerous “invasion” and “replacement” conspiracies in campaign messaging from more than 80 Republican candidates.
According to Zachary Mueller, Political Director for America’s Voice:
“Yesterday, the Attorney General reiterated a warning about the urgent threat of white nationalist domestic terrorism that he and Secretary Mayorkas first alerted us to nearly two years ago. Over these last two years the Republican Party, from leadership on down, has either actively promoted the same white nationalist conspiracy theories that have motivated domestic terrorists or have refused to condemn and fix this dangerous problem inside their Party.
This year we have seen Republicans in the House use their narrow majority to hold five hearings in five weeks, and in all five, Republicans have amplified white nationalist conspiracy theories. This is not simply hyperbole or ‘tough talk’ from Republicans, this rhetoric has proven to have deadly downstream consequences.
The latest assertion from the Attorney General is yet another flashing red warning sign that Republican rhetoric is helping to create an environment that exacerbates the leading terrorist threat facing the nation. When elected Members of Congress use their power to amplify the white nationalist ‘invasion’ and ‘replacement’ conspiracy theory, they put a target on the backs of Americans because of the color of their skin or the accent they speak with and dare every American with a gun in their hand and hate in their heart to take their words literally.”
In a powerful Miami Herald opinion piece, Sarah Rich and Caleb Kieffer of the Southern Poverty Law Center contrast the real domestic dangers we face from extremist groups against deterrence-only policies that portray asylum seekers as the threat. They also raise the concern that DHS agents who align themselves with extremists are part of the problem:
“Meanwhile, the threat of white-supremacist domestic terrorism is real. DHS should prioritize preventing threatening attacks, rather than locking up and traumatizing families who are seeking asylum — a human right protected under U.S. and international law. We need to reduce and reprogram funding to ICE and CBP and reinvest that money in services that benefit communities and help prevent polarization, extremism and radicalization.
…Jan. 6, 2021 was a wake-up call. Yet many politicians and media outlets have instead focused on the so-called ‘crisis’ at the border rather than those who carried out the deadly attack.
…The SPLC has exposed CBP agents working in tandem with extremist border paramilitary groups. These extremists are driven by racist conspiracy theories of an ‘invasion’ at the Southern border. Problematic rhetoric has also been reported within CBP’s own ranks. The situation is not under control. DHS has not produced an adequate response to inquiries about whether agents are terminated if they are found actively engaging known hate and extremist groups.”
