BOZEMAN — The group Gallatin County Republicans raised some eyebrows this week with an event invitation that warned about the dangers of “peasant families” who the invitation said are “looking for free stuff.” The invitation has since been edited and was highlighted in an email from the Montana Democrats.
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According to that email, the original invitation to the Gallatin County Republicans’ Lincoln-Reagan Dinner stated:
Illegal aliens, made up of young men from China and Middle-Eastern countries are arriving by the thousands every day to do whatever they choose. It is only a matter of time until some "community organizer", a young marxist perhaps, begins to organize these various ethnic groups into factions with "grievances" to petition the courts and to control the streets with rioting. We have such a group right here in Bozeman MT. Our medical and educational systems are being bankrupted by nonpaying peasant families looking for free stuff. You are paying their costs.
The original invitation goes on to say, "The Marxist Biden regime doesn't care what you like or what your opinions are," and claims President Biden is "only a mouthpiece for a politburo of Marxist and trans crazies."
The post has since been heavily edited, removing “Marxist” and “peasants,” along with other terms.
We tried to contact several people with the Gallatin County Republicans, including Rep. Jedediah Hinkle and Finance Chairman Troy Miller. We also called and emailed the main office of the Gallatin County Republicans and have not heard back.
We contacted the Gallatin County Democrats about the post; Gallatin Democrats chair Julia Shaida said in an email to MTN News, “I was disturbed to learn that this was the approach of our County Republicans. The way forward is to recognize our common values and concerns.”
“Blaming immigrants and using insulting language about immigrant families will not get us to where we need to go. It is a distraction, but it is also wrong. The CBO just came out with a study stating that illegal immigrants contribute $12 billion dollars in taxes each year. Immigration is a net gain to our economy. The name-calling here is terrible but also childish. Let’s be adults and let’s use respectful language,” Shaida continued.
We will update this article with any response we receive from Gallatin County Republicans.
