The Republican war on migrants and asylum seekers has been one of the more successful GOP campaigns of recent years if you measure success by volume of vitriol.
GOP politicians travel repeatedly to the border to provide fresh content for Fox News and to reinforce the “invasion” message whenever hysteria wanes. It seems to work well. In an NPR/Ipsos poll last summer, a slight majority of Americans agreed that it’s either “completely” or “somewhat” true that an “invasion” is under way at the U.S.-Mexico border. And, of course, Republicans speak so frequently of an “open border” that millions of Americans believe such a thing exists.
According to a Bloomberg Government report last week, congressional Republicans are now expanding their targets beyond migrants (and Democrats) to include the humanitarian groups that work along the border. Some of the groups, including religious charities, receive federal funds to help cover the cost of providing food and shelter for people, including children, who have neither. Often, the groups receive migrants directly from federal officials after they have been processed.
Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin said that he wants Catholic Charities USA and other groups to testify before Congress about “what they’re doing down on the border to facilitate this illegal immigration.”
This isn’t Tiffany’s first demagogue rodeo. He was one of four GOP House members who signed a Dec. 14, 2022, letter to Catholic Charities accusing the group ( is it still necessary to add the phrase “without evidence” when discussing allegations by House Republicans?) of misusing public funds and possibly committing federal crimes. The letter instructed Catholic Charities to preserve documents and communications in preparation for an investigation.