GOP Representative Labels Certain Immigrants as ‘Economic Burden,’ Mirroring Controversial Trump Assertion

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) ignited controversy on Monday by asserting that not all immigrants align with American cultural values, specifically targeting Haitians and Somalians as “a net drain” on the U.S. economy, a sentiment reminiscent of a notorious statement made by former President Donald Trump.

During an appearance on “The Benny Show,” Gill responded to host Benny Johnson’s reference to a March graph from the Center for Immigration Studies, which detailed welfare assistance among non-citizen households in the U.S.

In a fervent display of MAGA rhetoric, Gill declared it should be “illegal” for immigrants to “parasitically make our country poorer,” questioning their entitlement to welfare benefits if they “haven’t mowed a lawn in this country.” His comments amplified Johnson’s earlier assertions.

“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.”

He elaborated, “Which, by the way, is the whole reason why people immigrate into the United States, because our culture, I believe in many ways, is superior to other cultures across the globe. We’ve got to recognize that not all cultures are equal.”

Johnson referenced a social media post alleging that a Nigerian immigrant—whom he misidentified as a “Haitian migrant”—was photographed cooking a cat in a public park in Italy. This echoed Trump’s 2024 campaign claim that Haitian immigrants were “eating the pets” of Springfield, Ohio residents.

Despite the lack of evidence supporting Trump’s assertion, which was debunked by Ohio’s GOP governor and even a Fox News host, Gill maintained that immigrants are “not all equally compatible with America’s governing framework. They’re not all equally moral.”

He further stated, “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.”

Johnson also cited an X post from Grok, an AI chatbot, claiming that Haiti’s average IQ is about 68 and Somalia’s around 70, contrasting it with America’s average IQ of 105, which some data suggest is lower.

“Well, that’s the problem,” Gill remarked.

He linked the intelligence levels of immigrants to their reliance on welfare, arguing that individuals unfamiliar with “the modern American world” may struggle economically. “And the result is that they become a net drain, economically, on the rest of the society,” he added.

While Gill insisted these were “basic facts that we’ve got to recognize,” many social media users condemned his comments as “disgusting,” equating them to “unvarnished gutter racism” and “Nazi propaganda.”

One user on X remarked, “A ‘net drain on society’ is something Hitler would say.”