Not just Trump—GOP members warned of immigration ‘invasion’ from House floor
When the El Paso shooter took up arms against defenseless Walmart shoppers this week, he was doing so to stop a mythical"cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion." The “invasion” rhetoric was straight out of a white nationalist fever swamp and President Donald Trump’s own rhetoric on immigration.
“Having done so much contemplation about the 150,000 or so who invaded Nazi-occupied France in 1944, heck, we had virtually that in 1 month,” the Texas Republican said. “They didn't all come to shore with weapons, but it is an invasion when that many people are trying successfully to come into your country."
Republicans took the “invasion” language and ran with it. In Senate debates in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York, moderators pressed Republicans challenging Democratic incumbents on whether they agreed with Trump’s immigration focus and his language characterizing the caravan. Some punted on the question. But others, like now former Pennsylvania Congressman Lou Barletta, leaned into the framing and described the caravan as an “invasion” that’s “growing every day.
When Rep. Ted Yoho proclaimed that “Immigration without assimilation is an invasion” on the House floor in February 2018, it sounded like just another pivot off of the president’s talking points. But the line—and the idea that even legal immigration is an existential threat to the U.S.—predated Trump’s own presidency.
“An invasion is a group of people attempting to violate a nation's border by force, whether by military or mob action,” he said. “The vast majority camped on our southern border are military-aged males.”
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