NYC Councilman Blames Democrats For Fueling Hate Crimes

NEW YORK — A Bronx city councilman suggested prominent Democrats — some of whom were recently targeted by pipe bombs — are more to blame for a recent spate of hate crimes than President Donald Trump.

Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. drew fire Monday from one of his colleagues for spreading an unsubstantiated claim that the Central American migrant caravan heading toward the U.S. contains terrorists. The rumor feeds the divisive rhetoric from Trump that has fueled a string of hate crimes in the city, said Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Queens).

But Diaz fired back, suggesting incendiary comments from liberal figures such as former attorney general Eric Holder and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters were also playing a role.

"If he (Richards) wants to talk about inflammatory remarks, he should talk to Cory Booker, Maxine Waters, Eric Holder, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and many others," Diaz said in a phone interview with Patch.

Pressed for examples, Diaz pointed to Holder's comments from a Georgia campaign rally in October. "When they go low, we kick them," Holder said, putting a spin on Michelle Obama's catchphrase, "When they go low, we go high."

Waters took flak in June when she reportedly encouraged supporters to publicly harass Trump administration officials as a response to the policy that resulted in the separation of immigrant families.

"I think they’re doing worse than the president," Diaz said.

Diaz is a conservative Democrat who has expressed more support for Trump than is typically found among the Council's ranks.

He echoed the president's claims about the migrant caravan in an Oct. 24 email newsletter, writing that the group includes "terrorists making believe they are immigrants," according to Politico New York.

Diaz's latest remarks came ahead of a Nov. 19 hearing in the Council's Public Safety Committee on preventing hate crimes in the city. Lawmakers want to probe what police and others are doing to stop such attacks and how they work with impacted communities, said Richards, who chairs the committee.

The hearing will follow the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue that killed 11 people and the arrest of Brooklyn-born Cesar Sayoc, who's accused of mailing bombs meant for Holder, Waters, Booker and other high-profile Democrats.

Asked what he made of a colleague spreading the sort of rhetoric he blamed for the hate-fueled violence, Richards said Diaz's claim was "part of a backdoor message and a signal to white supremacists."

"Anyone who would make false impression or make an impression as if people now coming in are just coming in to divide or kill the country are wrong," he said.

But Diaz doubled down Monday, pointing to a video of migrants breaking through a gate on the Mexican border. He said migrants who threw stones at Mexican police "looked like terrorists," though he admitted he didn't know whether anyone from the Middle East had joined the caravan, as Trump claimed last month.

"They are doing that to another country. They are doing that to enter the country. If that is not terrorism it’s very close," Diaz said.

A spokesman for Richards, Jordan Gibbons, declined to engage with Diaz's statements.

"We’re focused on stopping the spread of hate, fear and ignorance. Responding to those comments could only achieve the opposite," Gibbons said in an email.

(Lead image: Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. is seen in February 2018. Photo by John McCarten/New York City Council)