Dems draft resolution to condemn GOP leaders over ‘illegal immigrant’ smear against Hispanic Caucus chair

House Democrats have drafted a resolution to condemn Republican leaders after the GOP’s campaign arm falsely portrayed a Hispanic lawmaker as an “illegal immigrant.” 

Led by Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), the resolution denounces the attack on Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) by the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) as a “vile” and “xenophobic” smear. It seeks to condemn, formally, the GOP’s entire leadership team “for calling into question the citizenship of their colleague.”

“[X]enophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric has no place in Congress,” reads a draft of the resolution obtained by The Hill.

Espaillat, the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, had aired a Spanish-language response to President Trump’s prime-time address to Congress on Tuesday, accusing Trump of governing “more like a king than a president.”

The video prompted the NRCC to respond with a social media post hammering Espaillat’s message while claiming he’s living in the country illegally. 

“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 false: Espaillat had emigrated from the Dominican Republic as a child, and while his family had overstayed their initial tourist visa, they obtained green cards within a year. Espaillat has been a U.S. citizen for more than four decades. 

With that in mind, the NRCC’s message drew an immediate backlash from immigrant rights advocates and Democrats on Capitol Hill, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who went after the NRCC in kind. 

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

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) was even more forceful. 

“Whoever is the intern @NRCC that tweeted this racist s— needs to be fired,” wrote on X. 

A spokesman for the NRCC dismissed the criticisms on Thursday, defending the post as merely an assertion of “facts,” since Espaillat had once lived in the country illegally.

“Democrats caring more about policing words and fighting facts instead of policing our border and fighting crime shows just how out of touch they are,” the spokesman said in an email.

The defense did little to appease Espaillat, who said the NRCC’s attack was just the latest example of Republican disdain for immigrants as the GOP has shifted toward more isolationist policies under President Trump.

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

“It is unfortunate that they are not aware of the diversity of our nation — it’s made up by people from all over the world — and so they’re profiling,” he continued. “They know my story, and they know that I became a legal resident and a citizen — and I used the paths that were established by the law to do that. 

“And they don’t recognize that, because to them, anybody else that looks like that, is an illegal.”

It’s not the first time in recent days that attacks on immigrants have stirred controversy in Washington. 

Last week, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) had questioned whether Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump ally who was born in South Africa, has American interests in mind as he leads the administration’s efforts to gut the government.

“Mr. Musk has just been here 22 years, and he’s a citizen of three countries,” Kaptur said. “I always ask myself the question: With the damage he’s doing here, when push comes to shove, which country is his loyalty to?”

The remarks were quickly condemned by Republicans, who accused Democrats of hypocrisy when it comes to their position on immigrant rights.

Emily Brooks contributed.

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