During a recent segment on the Fox News show hosted by longtime conservative media figure Sean Hannity, individuals involved with the Guardian Angels — a group that’s been termed vigilantes — violently accosted a man who the organization’s founder and leader, Curtis Sliwa, claimed was a migrant. Hannity had been interviewing Sliwa.
The target of the group’s ire was not a migrant, and Hannity walked it back. “Apparently the statement made by Curtis that the man is a migrant is not true and the man was given a summons for disorderly conduct,” the host said Thursday, as captured by the New York Daily News.
Sliwa himself admitted the falsity, though he’s now claiming the target punched someone with the group — entirely distinct from what he was saying just feet away from the encounter earlier in the week while speaking live with Hannity. At the time, Sliwa exasperatedly claimed to Hannity that migrants were “taking over,” which is not supported by the evidence.
The original incident unfolded Tuesday. As shared by The Guardian, a member of the New York City Council representing local areas blasted how the scene unfolded. “When civilians take justice into their own hands, it can escalate conflicts and lead to even more dangerous situations, putting everyone at risk,” Erik Bottcher said.
Individuals seeking asylum remain an obsessive target of right-wing politicos, who consistently characterize the U.S. as currently facing an “invasion.” Despite the dire scenario that’s supposedly unfolding, GOP Senators recently voted down a bipartisan deal on immigration and the border that would have given the federal government new powers to shut the southern border between ports of entry if facing particularly numerous crossings. Some Republicans characterized the deal as fundamentally deficient, calling assistance proposed for migrants with integrating into local communities an incentive for undocumented immigration, though there were separately to be updates across the legal framework under which individuals actually arrive.
Featured image: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons, available under a Creative Commons license
