Last Saturday, several men beat two NYPD officers who were trying to break up an altercation outside a migrant shelter in Times Square. Over the next few days, authorities arrested seven people, all of whom are migrants, in connection with the incident, but they were later released without bail after being arraigned, per the Daily News.
The attack sparked calls across the state for the men to be deported, with Governor Kathy Hochul joining the chorus. But one Georgia representative went a lot further.
On Monday, Representative Anthony D’Esposito of New York shared a photo of Jhoan Boada, one of the suspects, who was pictured raising two middle fingers as he left court. “We feel the same way about you. Holla at the cartels and have them escort you back,” he wrote on X.
Representative Mike Collins of Georgia shared D’Esposito’s post, adding his own comment on his congressional account, “Or we could buy him a ticket on Pinochet Air for a free helicopter ride back.”
Collins was not-so-subtly referring to the brutal regime of Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, which was known for its “death flights,” extrajudicial killings in which Chilean dissidents were thrown to their deaths. Christopher Mathias, a HuffPost reporter, said on X that by referencing Pinochet, Collins was “parroting a meme that’s been popular among white supremacists & neofascists like the Proud Boys for the last 7 or so years.”
The post drew predictable backlash, which is probably what Collins was looking for. MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes wrote in response, “I think sitting members of congress calling for murdering people using the Pinochet regime’s preferred method of dropping them out of helicopters is really not great.”
X itself removed the post for violating the platform’s rules on “violent speech.” The representative also found himself locked out of his account, sharing a screenshot of the message he got from the platform. He took to his personal account, writing “What is @elonmusk phone number? He’s apparently got a few more folks to fire! Help me #FreeCollins.”
Collins did receive support from some of his fellow Republicans. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio wrote, “Call me crazy, but I’m more worried a person who shouldn’t be in our country assaulted a police officer.”
Collins’s account was eventually restored along with the offending post, though users have to intentionally click through to view it. The post now features a disclaimer that reads, “This Post violated the X Rules. However, X has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Post to remain accessible.”
Despite the criticism, Collins appeared unsurprisingly defiant upon his return to the platform.
