Brigitte Gabriel, the leader of ACT for America, one of the most active anti-Muslim groups in the nation, praised the Trump administration’s defunding of an international relief agency, effectively cutting money from nongovernmental contractors aiding migrants and refugees — groups she described as “treasonous organizations” helping “criminals break into our country.” In the subhead to the article, ACT for America states: “Taxpayer Funded US Contractors Organizing Illegal Migrant Invasion!”

On Feb. 6, Gabriel published a video and article on her group’s Substack page. In it, she praised President Donald Trump’s administration for defunding the international relief agency known as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Gabriel also gloats that the effects of pulling funds away from USAID include diverting funds from nongovernmental contractors aiding migrants and refugees, including the organization HIAS (formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) — a group whose mission of aiding refugees and migrants is inspired by their Jewish faith. In addition to HIAS, Gabriel’s post mentioned seven other religious and charitable organizations contracting with the federal government.

For decades, white nationalist and anti-immigrant figures have pushed conspiratorial claims of a migrant “invasion” at the Southern border. Such ideas evoke dangerous and dehumanizing images of migrants seeking asylum, many of whom are people of color, as a marauding, militaristic force charging the border.

This rhetoric feeds into the broader racist “great replacement” theory, which claims white people in Western nations are being displaced and replaced by immigrants and people of color. At least two mass murderers responsible for racialized attacks in the U.S. cited ideas of an immigration “invasion” to justify the violence, according to online postings they left behind. Despite its use by mass shooters and white nationalists, “invasion” rhetoric has been dragged into the mainstream with the help of prominent political figures and some elected officials.

Gabriel goes on to note how Elon Musk and the Trump-authorized Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) “shut down USAID and cut off the spigot that was squandering our hard-earned money to people who hate us, who use us, and who couldn’t care less about us.”

She used a common trope multiple hard-right groups use to demonize immigrants, no matter their legal status, as criminals and a threat to the U.S. But Gabriel also took aim at the organizations she claimed were enabling criminal activity, a dangerous parallel to rhetoric past mass shooters have used against Jewish people. “The treasonous organizations [including HIAS] were helping criminals break into our country,” Gabriel wrote.

Similarities to white supremacist’s posts

Gabriel’s claims that nongovernmental contractors are organizing a “migrant invasion” to bring criminals into the country appears to mirror rhetoric commonly used to justify racialized and bigoted mass violence, including the 2018 antisemitic attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 congregants. 

Robert Bowers, a white nationalist and antisemite who perpetrated the attack, was convicted of 63 federal charges related to the murders and sentenced to death in 2023. An hour before he attacked the Tree of Life synagogue, he wrote on the social media hate platform Gab: “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered.” Bowers ended his post, “Screw your optics, I’m going in.” “Optics” refers to a debate among white nationalists over how to publicly brand their bigotry.

In another post, he wrote: “Why hello there HIAS! You like to bring in hostile invaders to dwell among us?  We appreciate the list of friends you have provided.” The post included an image of a HIAS-sponsored religious event called the “National Refugee Shabbat.” Bowers’ fixation on HIAS fits into racist “great replacement” thinking.

On its webpage, HIAS addresses great replacement-style conspiracy theories used against it. “Those who promote the Great Replacement Theory often attack HIAS, depicting our efforts to aid those legally seeking asylum in the U.S. and resettle refugees as an ‘invasion’ at the border,” HIAS writes. “White nationalist activists and influencers have been knowingly sharing misinformation about HIAS in hopes of furthering their own xenophobic, antisemitic and/or racist agendas — as well as to drive profits by maximizing and monetizing outrage.”

The assailant responsible for the 2019 race-motivated mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, claimed in an online post before the attack that he was acting in response to a “Hispanic invasion” he believed to be happening in the state.

Gabriel’s hate historically has been directed at Muslims and Islam. She is an outspoken supporter of Israel and couches her activism in preserving “Judeo-Christian” values.

She has fearmongered about the U.S. and Western nations admitting Muslim immigrants into the country. In her 2018 book Rise: In Defense of Judeo-Christian Values and Freedom, she writes, “Unless the West wakes up to the fact that their culture and way of life is eroding through immigration from the Islamic world, the values of the Islamic world will soon overtake us.”

It now appears she is willing to use the same “invasion” rhetoric and conspiracy theories associated with antisemitic and white nationalist figures when talking about migrants arriving at the Southern border. She is also attacking the same religious and charitable organizations that have drawn ire from figures like Bowers for helping aid migrants and refugees.

In recent years, ACT and Gabriel have extended their fearmongering to migrants and asylum seekers. In an action campaign to “Stop the Taxpayer Funded Invasion [of migrants],” ACT writes, “The Southern Border Invasion and migrants entering through ports of authority and international airports in every state, are part of a concerted effort by the Left and globalists to transform America through replacement.”

In an open letter to President Donald Trump and Congress published April 22, Gabriel wrote, “Our sovereignty is under siege by millions of illegal immigrants who exploit our borders, falsify asylum claims, and burden our communities with crime and economic strain.” She then lamented that district court judges and the U.S. Supreme Court were “tying Trump’s hands” by blocking some of his draconian immigration and mass deportation policies and urged for more policies to remove unauthorized immigrants.

Gabriel is connected to influential conservative institutions. Internal documents show she is a member of the secretive Council for National Policy, a coalition of influential right-wing political leaders, operatives and donors that advocates for right-wing and anti-rights policies favoring conservatives and the religious right.

She is also affiliated with the Conservative Action Project, which “is designed to facilitate conservative leaders working together on behalf of common goals.” Gabriel has cosigned numerous issue memos published by the Conservative Action Project, including ones on immigration policy.

Gabriel and ACT also have connections to elected officials at the state and federal level. Over a dozen members of the U.S. Congress have spoken at and lent credibility to past legislative briefings organized by ACT as part of its national conference in Washington.

During the first Trump administration, Gabriel, a staunch supporter of the president, bragged about having a weekly standing meeting with White House officials, though details about such meetings were never confirmed. In 2017, she met with a White House staffer to hand-deliver a petition in support of Trump’s Muslim travel ban. In 2019, the Trump Organization canceled a fundraising event at Mar-a-Lago organized by ACT after Hatewatch broke the news.

“This group absolutely will not be hosting their event at Mar-a-Lago,” the Trump Organization said in a statement.

Image at top: Brigitte Gabriel and HIAS (Photo illustration by the SPLC)