Hispanic Caucus demands apology from GOP campaign arm after ‘illegal immigrant’ smear

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is demanding an apology from the House Republicans’ campaign arm after it falsely portrayed the CHC’s chair as an “illegal immigrant.” 

The National Congressional Campaign Committee (NRCC) deleted the controversial social media post Friday. But the unannounced move did little to appease the Hispanic Caucus, which is asking the NRCC to go further. 

“You can’t sweep this under the rug,” the group wrote on the social platform X. “We demand a retraction and an apology, not a mulligan.”

The NRCC stirred the controversy on Wednesday when it posted a message attacking Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the head of the CHC, over his Spanish-language response to President Trump’s address to Congress the night before. 

“Democrats literally chose an illegal immigrant to give their response to President Trump’s address,” the NRCC posted on X. “Predictably, this radical called Trump’s presidency a “reign of terror.’ Democrats couldn’t be more disconnected from the American people.”

The claim was not true. Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic and lived illegally in the United States for a brief period in the mid-1960s — when he was roughly 10 years old — after his family’s tourist visas expired. But they obtained green cards within a year, granting legal status, and Espaillat, 70, became a U.S. citizen more than 40 years ago. 

The NRCC post quickly sparked denouncements from Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who didn’t pull punches. 

“These people are disgusting,” he wrote on X. 

Separately, Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), the CHC whip, crafted a resolution condemning the entire GOP leadership team “for calling into question the citizenship of their colleague.” 

On Thursday, an NRCC spokesperson defended the “illegal immigrant” claim as simply a statement of “facts.” On Friday, however, the group quietly deleted the post — a development first reported by NOTUS.

A NRCC spokesperson said Democrats have blown the episode out of proportion, arguing that the Democrats are merely trying to shift attention away from the controversy surrounding their protests of Trump’s speech on Tuesday, including Rep. Al Green’s (D-Texas) remarkable heckling of the president.

“We refuse to let Democrats distract from their disastrous Joint Address antics,” NRCC Communications Director Will Kiley said in a statement. “Only a handful of them voted to censure Al Green while refusing to apologize for their disgraceful behavior toward President Trump, American workers, and victims of violent crime. 

“Their antics on the House floor were far more egregious than any tweet.”

The group declined to comment on the CHC’s demand for an apology. 

Espaillat has more sinister theories about the Republicans’ strategy. He said the GOP, under Trump, has simply put a target on the backs of all immigrants in the country, legal or not.

“[The] Republican Party, has been invaded by xenophobes and anybody that doesn’t look exactly like them, they consider to be an illegal,” he said.