GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has claimed Christians who help undocumented migrants are in thrall to Satan.
Speaking to the far-right Catholic activist Michael Voris, the Georgia Republican said she wanted to see moderate groups such as Catholic Relief Services that aid resettlement stripped of federal funding.
“What it is, is Satan’s controlling the church,” Ms Greene, an evangelical Protestant, said in an interview for Mr Voris’s Church Militant website.
“The church is not doing its job, and it’s not adhering to the teachings of Christ, and it’s not adhering to what the word of God says we’re supposed to do and how we’re supposed to live.”
The hour-long interview was held on Thursday, a day before Ms Greene testified in a lawsuit that is seeking to ban her from running for re-election.
She rehashed old grievances about being a victim of the 6 January Capitol riots, and claimed the US was so sinful that she couldn’t work out why “God hasn’t destroyed us”.
Ms Greene added that Christian groups who help migrants were trying to “destroy” the United States.
“We are supposed to love one another, but their definition of what love one another means, means destroying our laws.
“It means completely perverting what our Constitution says. It means taking unreal advantage of the American taxpayer.
“And it means pushing a globalist policy on the American people and forcing America to become something that we are not supposed to be.”
In a clip obtained by watchdog Right Wing Watch, Ms Greene went on to say the US should suspend aid to any nation that undocumented migrants are arriving from.
“‘Oh, I’m sorry, Guatemala, you’re not getting a check this year because you’ve sent X number of thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of people to illegally invade our country as if they’re an army.
“They may not have guns, but they’re the numbers of a regiment of an army. We won’t be able to send you your foreign aid until you bring your people back.’”
Church Militant, formed by ex-CBS News producer Mr Voris in Michigan in 2008, promoted the interview under the headline: “Marjorie for Pope.”
In 2012, Church Militant had to change its name from Real Catholic TV after the Archdiocese of Detroit said it did “not regard them as being authorised to use the word ‘Catholic’.”
Mr Voris has been sued for defamation for smearing members of the Catholic church.
This article was amended on 28 April 2022 to remove an inaccurate reference to Ms Taylor Greene’s court appearance being in North Carolina. It is in Georgia.
