Vince Leach in 2024. Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Arizona Sen. Vince Leach, a Tucson Republican, shared a meme on Facebook decrying foreign-born politicians, even though members of his own caucus were born outside the country.
“There are 32 foreign born members of Congress!” the meme says, alongside an image of Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, long a target of Islamophobic attacks. “Who do they really represent?”
Leach posted the image to both his personal and candidate Facebook pages along with the caption “Question of the day.” Leach did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
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He’s correct that 32 members of Congress were born outside of the United States — nine Republicans and 23 Democrats. One of them is Arizona Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani who was born in Mexico, and became a citizen through the naturalization process.
Ciscomani did not respond to a request for comment from the Arizona Mirror.
“As someone born abroad while my father proudly served in the U.S. Air Force, I find Senator Leach’s post surprising and disappointing,” Arizona Senate Minority Whip Rosanna Gabaldón told the Mirror. “Implying that foreign-born Americans are somehow less capable of representing their communities undermines the very principles of service, equality and democracy that our country is built on.”
Gabaldón, who was born in Bermuda, is one of six Arizona state lawmakers who are foreign born. Four of the six are Republicans.
“Arizona is made stronger by its diversity, and our leaders should focus on bringing people together, not questioning the patriotism or legitimacy of their colleagues based on birthplace,” Gabaldón said. “I stand proudly with all who serve honorably, regardless of where they were born.”
Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro, who was born in El Salvador, did not respond to the Mirror’s request for comment about the meme that Leach shared.
Other notable politicians born outside the country include Texas Republican Ted Cruz, Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth, Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.
The image elicited a number of xenophobic and Islamophobic comments.
“ALL FOLLOWING 9-11,” one commenter claimed, alleging that all the foreign-born members of congress were elected after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. The countries where the largest number of current members of Congress were born are India, Mexico and West Germany.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
