Republican Representative Brandon Gill from Texas ignited a firestorm of controversy on Monday by asserting that not all immigrants are equally compatible with American culture. During an appearance on "The Benny Show," Gill singled out Haitians and Somalians, labeling them as a net drain on the U.S. economy and echoing one of the most infamous claims from former President Donald Trump.
Gill's Comments on Immigration and Welfare
Gill's remarks came after host Benny Johnson referenced a graph from the Center for Immigration Studies, published in March, which detailed welfare assistance among non-citizen households in the United States. The staunch MAGA influencer argued it should be illegal for immigrants to parasitically make the country poorer and questioned why they are entitled to welfare if they haven't contributed labor, such as mowing a lawn.
"If you come into the United States, you are expected to become American; you are not expected to be a hyphenated American perpetually," Gill stated. "You're expected to adopt American culture and revere our history and adhere to the cultural norms in our civilization."
Claims of Cultural Superiority and Incompatibility
Gill continued by emphasizing his belief in the superiority of American culture, suggesting it is the primary reason people immigrate to the U.S. "We've got to recognize that not all cultures are equal," he declared. Johnson bolstered this rhetoric by citing a social media post that falsely claimed a Nigerian immigrant was cooking a cat in a public park in Italy, a narrative reminiscent of Trump's 2024 campaign assertion that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Despite no evidence supporting Trump's claim and debunking by Ohio's GOP governor and a Fox News host, Gill doubled down. "They're not all equally compatible with America's governing framework. They're not all equally moral," he said. "They're not— they don't all have equal dignity. And we ought to recognize that bringing in third-world countries where some lunatic is grilling a cat in an American park, where children are playing around with is a culture that is incompatible with our own."
Economic Arguments and IQ Claims
Gill further claimed that some immigrants have become a net economic drain on society. Johnson cited an X post from the AI chatbot Grok, alleging average IQs of about 68 in Haiti and 70 in Somalia, compared to America's purported 105, though some data suggest a lower figure. "Well, that's the problem," Gill responded, linking lower IQs to welfare dependency and difficulties adapting to modern American life.
"And the result is that they become a net drain, economically, on the rest of the society," Gill asserted, calling these points basic facts that must be recognized.
Backlash and Comparisons to Extremism
However, Gill's rhetoric faced swift and severe backlash on social media, with users condemning it as disgusting and likening it to unvarnished gutter racism and Nazi propaganda. One X user wrote, "A 'net drain on the society' is something Hitler would say," highlighting the inflammatory nature of his comments. This outcry underscores the deep divisions in American discourse over immigration and cultural assimilation.
