April 3, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Links YouTube Shooting to “Criminal Illegal Aliens”

“Would anyone be surprised?”

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.)Bill Clark/AP

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Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) was about to discuss sanctuary cities on the Fox Business Network on Tuesday afternoon when news broke about a shooter at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California.

“You were going to talk to me about sanctuary cities and the sanctuary state movement, and it fits right into what you are talking about right now,” Rohrabacher said when asked for a comment on the shooting. Law enforcement authorities had not released any information about the identity of the alleged shooter, yet Rohrabacher linked the shooting to “criminal illegal aliens.” “Would anyone be surprised?” he said. “Would anyone listening to you right now say, ‘Well, this certainly wouldn’t be an illegal immigrant.’ Well, it could be!”

Rohrabacher added, “We should be making sure we emphasize that any illegal in this state should be sent back whether he’s a criminal or not, but especially a criminal.”

“You bring up an excellent point,” David Asman, the host replied. ThinkProgress first reported Rohrabacher’s comments.

According to the latest reports, four victims have been transferred to the hospital, and one woman, believed to be the shooter, was found dead at the scene with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gun-shot wound. No other details about the shooter’s identity have yet come to light.

Watch Rohrabacher’s comments here:

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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