The president of the Illinois NAACP has apologized after referring to migrants as “savages,” rapists and burglars during a recent conference call, prompting calls for her to resign.
Teresa Haley was protesting the government rushing to provide migrants with housing and other services as unhoused Black people have been disregarded, according to video of the meeting shared by former DuPage County NAACP President Patrick Watson.
“But these immigrants that come over here, they’ve been raping people, they’ve been breaking into homes. They’re like savages as well,” a woman Watson identified as Haley can be heard saying on the video.
Haley apologized for her comments in a statement released Thursday, saying, “I love and value all members of our communities — including immigrants.”
Here is her full statement:
“First and foremost, I express my sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or offended by my comments. I love and value all members of our communities — including immigrants. I have worked tirelessly to advocate for the underserved and the voiceless. I remain focused on denouncing injustices, racism, and discrimination. I am empathetic to the plight of all people, and I proudly serve as a beacon of hope to the hopeless. I embrace the mission of the NAACP, which is to ‘Achieve equity, political rights, and social inclusion by advancing policies and practices that expand human and civil rights, eliminate discrimination, and accelerate the well-being, education, and economic security of Black people and all persons of color.’”
Reached by WLS-Channel 7 on Tuesday while on vacation in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Haley initially denied making the statements and suggested the video was fabricated, noting, “with AI, anything is possible.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker called Haley’s comments about migrants “reprehensible” at an event this week.
“I would hope that she would apologize for the remarks. I also think that people should recognize that immigrants to this country are all around us,” Pritzker said.
Watson resigned as president of the DuPage County NAACP on Tuesday, calling Haley’s comments “abhorrent.”
“I will remain allying with the communities abhorrent to Ms. Haley, mistaken in her words that advocating powerfully and effectively for the descendants of the formerly enslaved means to denigrate others struggling to find their way,” Watson said.
He called on Haley to resign.
“Those granted positions must not allow themselves to become agents of hate speech and divisiveness,” he said.
Before the comments in question, Haley warned other Illinois cities to “get ready” for an influx of asylum-seekers, saying, “They’re up to 80,000 immigrants on the West Side of Chicago and the South Side.”
Nearly 26,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August 2022, and about 14,000 remain in shelters, according to the city.
“People are even renting out abandoned buildings and allowing them to live up in there, and that’s inhumane because they don’t have the sewage, the plumbing, the draining, but to get them off the streets, they’re just housing them anywhere,” the woman identified as Haley said.
“Springfield, Peoria, Bloomington, Kankakee, just get ready if you declared yourself to be a safe haven or a safe place for immigrants to come, because they are shopping around, and the busloads are coming,” the woman warned.
Haley also serves as president of the NAACP Springfield branch. She is seeking election to the national NAACP board of directors.
