Press Release: 2019-07-18

Incendiary rhetoric from the left inspiring dangerous real-world actions

BOSTON — Dangerous real-life consequences have emerged as a result of the Democrats’ continued use of incendiary rhetoric regarding illegal immigration and the country’s ongoing border crisis.

The latest example occurred right here in Massachusetts , when anonymous protesters hung a banner from a bridge in Newburyport accusing a local resident of being an ICE agent. The resident, Jason Devereaux, works for the Department of Homeland Security. The banner also targeted a hair salon owned by Devereaux’s wife.

“He (Jason Devereaux) is just a law-abiding citizen doing a very important job and it is reprehensible that he or anyone should be threatened and harassed for doing so,” said Republican West Newbury state Rep. Lenny Mirra. 

“I was horrified that anybody in this area would do something like that,” said Newbury Republican Town Committee member Linda D. Allen. “I was appalled. It is just wrong.” 

The Newburyport episode occurred days after the attempted firebombing of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Washington.

Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons said the already dangerous situation will only escalate if Democrats continue to use inflammatory rhetoric and make false comparisons between border processing centers and Nazi-style concentration camps. 

Lyons referenced recent remarks delivered by Democratic Massachusetts U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley , who told protesters during her visit to a border processing center in Arizona that “change happens either because people see the light or feel the fire,” before adding that if “people don’t see the light, we’ll bring the fire.”

“Pressley’s rhetoric apparently inspired a left-wing activist to try and burn down a government facility Washington,” Lyons said. “Now we have an innocent family here in Massachusetts who is being targeted by the Radical Left’s mob.

“If the Democrats keep this up, there’s no telling what may happen next.”
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