Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has taken a dark turn as of late, nodding to a white supremacist theory that says people of color are replacing white populations and promoting the conspiracy that Democrats support immigration because it gives them an electoral advantage.
As the American Independent’s Oliver Willis reported, in an April 10 campaign video, Boebert falsely claimed that Democrats are in favor of open borders and used the votes of immigrants to “take over” California.
“The truth is, they want borders wide open,” Boebert says in the video. “It helped Democrats take over the entire state of California, and now we’re seeing in New York they are paying 15 grand to illegal immigrants. 15 grand because you came here illegally. You can’t make this stuff up. We have to take our country back.”
Boebert’s ad echoes the racist concept of the “great replacement,” a white supremacist theory that holds that people of color, particularly non-white immigrants, are replacing white people.
Recent tweets show Boebert continuing to nod to the theory and promoting the conspiracy that Vice President Kamala Harris, who is tasked with addressing migration from Central America and Mexico, is gathering “new voters.”
On April 13, Boebert tweeted, “Kamala’s border assignment is simple: Keep the new voters coming.”
Then, on April 14, Boebert shared a news story about Harris’ upcoming trip to Mexico and Guatemala, writing, “Why visit the border when you can just go straight to the source, huh? Will she also be loading up Air Force 2 with illegals to bring them in without the hassle of crossing the border?”
Harris has said that the trip is aimed at addressing “root causes” of migration.
Boebert’s statements on immigration echo those from other conservatives, like Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, who has been facing calls to resign after saying on his show the Democratic Party was “trying to replace the current electorate” in the U.S. with “new people, more obedient voters from the Third World.”
“Given his long record of race-baiting, we believe it is time for Carlson to go,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said.
In response, Fox News CEO Lachlan Murdoch chose to support Carlson and he has since doubled down on his statements.
RELATED: A Brief History of Rep. Boebert’s Ties to Extremist & Conspiracy Groups
Replacement theory has served as a catalyst for mass violence across the globe, from mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand to the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh to the Walmart in El Paso where a gunman targeted Hispanic immigrants.
It’s not the first time Boebert has promoted a racist conspiracy theory. Over the summer, as Black Lives Matter protests were taking place across the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Boebert claimed without evidence that Black Lives Matter protesters were “paid and bussed in” to her hometown of Rifle.
Boebert continues to speak in opposition to BLM, writing on the ultra conservative social media site Gab this week that “BLM will burn down cities and destroy businesses. Democrats will do nothing to stop them. Both then have the audacity to ask for federal funding to help those communities recover and call it ‘COVID Relief.'”
