Illinois NAACP president Teresa Haley has apologized for calling immigrants rapist, burgling savages who don’t speak English.
The activist was complaining to branch presidents that the city of Chicago was giving 26,000 immigrants too much support at the expense of black residents.
Haley, who heads the NAACP state conference, also used the N-word and sneered at transgender people during the video call.
‘These immigrants who come over here, they’ve been raping people, they’ve been breaking into homes, they’re like savages as well,’ she said.
‘They don’t speak the language and they look at us like we’re crazy.’
Illinois NAACP president Teresa Haley has apologized for calling immigrants rapist, burgling savages who don’t speak English
Du Bois County branch president Patrick Watson recorded the call before resigning in disgust and calling on Haley to follow him out the door.
Haley initially denied making the comments, claiming ‘with AI, anything is possible’, but finally made a groveling apology on Thursday.
‘First and foremost, I express my sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or offended by my comments,’ she said.
‘I love and value all members of our communities — including immigrants. I have worked tirelessly to advocate for the underserved and the voiceless.
‘I remain focused on denouncing injustices, racism, and discrimination. I am empathetic to the plight of all people, and I proudly serve as a beacon of hope to the hopeless.’
Chicago expects to spend $300 million this year on coping with more than 26,000 migrants who have arrived in the city after crossing the Mexican border since August last year.
O’Hare International Airport accommodated hundreds of migrants in a screened off area as the crisis gathered steam this summer
Fears for the thousands of migrants still unsheltered are growing as temperatures drop and the viciously cold Chicago winter starts to bite
The city spent nearly $1 million on a tent camp in Brighton Park before tests revealed the soil was too poisonous to live on, and more than 3,000 migrants are still waiting for shelter as arctic winter temperatures start to bite.
Authorities faced furious backlash from residents as parks and public facilities were commandeered to house newcomers, who are still arriving at a rate of 700 a week.
About 300 are still living on the floors of Chicago’s police stations, and conditions are so bad across the city that some decided to return home to South America.
Watson said Haley’s comments were heard by everyone at the meeting and denounced them as ‘abhorrent’ hate speech.
‘We’ve had immigrants who’ve been shot at, we’ve had immigrants who’ve been killed,’ he added.
‘We have had people who have been beaten up because of their immigration status, and enough is enough, it’s time to stand up and say no to hate.
‘You can be for raising up your people without denigrating other people.’
Patrick Watson who recorded the comments accused Haley of betraying the organization’s legacy with ‘derogatory, hateful language’
Haley is a rising star in the organization and won its activist of the year award in 2021.
She is campaigning for a seat on running on its national board and found backing from current DuPage County board president Michael Childress who said she had his full support.
‘These comments are not indicative of what the NAACP stands for, but I’m not going to speak on behalf of Teresa Haley and say she should or shouldn’t resign or things like that,’ he added.
Haley who has a bachelors degree in ‘communication’ runs a training and consulting service and bills herself on its website as a ‘dynamic speaker’.
She told the meeting migrants were benefitting at the expense of black people.
‘We were the only people in America who were brought over here against our will and were slaves, sold into slavery,’ she said.
‘But unlike everybody else who comes over here, we’re so kind, we’re so friendly, you need some clothes, you need a place to stay, we’re gonna make it happen.’
Watson said she also complained about being asked to use transgender pronouns she described as ‘they, them, it’.
‘What the hell is that?’ she demanded.
When Watson protested at her remarks she told him: ‘So brother, I feel your pain, I’m trying not to be a n******, but you know I’m pro-black.’
The city’s airport and police stations have been used to shelter the thousands of migrants
The city is budgeting a $150 million spend on new facilities at the start of 2024
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called remarks ‘reprehensible’ and ‘extraordinarily inappropriate’.
‘I would hope that she would apologize for the remarks,’ he added.
‘I also think that people should recognize that immigrants in this country are all around us.
‘Virtually all of us came here from somewhere else.
‘So remarks like that are commentary on our entire society.’
Illinois State Governor JB Pritzker denounced the remarks as ‘extraordinarily inappropriate’
The NAACP, founded in 1909 as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, describes its mission as support for ‘all marginalized people’.
But Carla Jackson-Campbell, a senior NAACP executive, said the group was ‘still evaluating all of the information and awaiting more details’.
‘Our mission is and always will be to achieve equity and political rights and social inclusion by advancing the needs of Black people,’ she added.
‘President Haley does embrace the mission of our beloved NAACP.’
Black residents made up most of the protesters who stormed a meeting of Chicago City Council last month as it debated whether it should retain its sanctuary city status.
And in September a group of Black homeowners protested outside the City Hall, calling on the city to redirect the funding spent on migrants to their neighborhoods.
The city plans to spend $150 million on migrant services in the first six months of 2024 alone at a time when campaigners estimate there are more than 50,000 homeless black people.
More than 26,000 have arrived in Chicago since August last year amid tension with residents
Stunning images have shown droves of migrants traversing difficult terrain and wading through the Rio Grande river on their way over the southern border
‘The South Side has been under-resourced, under-funded for years, for decades. We have schools that need to be reopened,’ community organizer Jessica Jackson said during the demonstration.
‘For them to be sympathetic to their needs, saying it’s a humanitarian issue crisis when Black people have had a humanitarian crisis for housing, employment and everything else.
‘How do we get pushed to the back?’
Five years ago Haley had protested at the use of the N-word by colleagues, branding it ‘disrespectful’.
‘We are living in a time when people are changing, but the world still remains the same,’ she told a chapter meeting.
‘The NAACP is not just about black folks sir, it is about all folks, working and living together and being respectful of one another.’
As winter approached, Mayor Brandon Johnson has opened camps for migrants, some of which are being placed in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods
Watson said others on the video call raised concerns about migrants, but said Haley was ‘the only one that used this derogatory, hateful language’
‘Thinking of the rich history of the NAACP, it’s the oldest civil rights organization in the country,’ he added.
‘And to have an Illinois state president engage in that type of rhetoric and that type of speech, I could have never imagined I would have heard that from a civil rights leader.’
Chicago’s sanctuary city status means officials are forbidden from asking questions about a person’s immigration status, or revealing it to federal authorities.
Police in the city are not allowed to arrest anyone solely because they are an illegal immigrant, and the city will not co-operate with an investigation by immigration authorities unless ordered to by a court.
More than 560 cities, states and counties across the US have declared themselves sanctuaries, and Chicago adopted the status in 1985.
Mayor Brandon Johnson ordered his lieutenants to quash a bid to put the city’s sanctuary city status to a referendum on Chicago’s March primary ballot
Mayor Brandon Johnson ordered his lieutenants to quash a bid to put the ordinance to a referendum on Chicago’s March primary ballot.
He accused his opponents of ‘meanness’ and claimed a public vote on sanctuary status would do nothing to address the strain from migrants.
‘This is a crisis, and as I’ve said, it’s not going to go away because people are upset,’ he told reporters on Wednesday.
‘Now unfortunately, you have individuals that have used this as a way to execute its meanness.
‘That type of meanness has caused the type of strife that we’re experiencing now.’