Tomi Lahren Gets Owned By Genealogist After Her Remarks On Low-Skilled Immigrants

Jenna Amatulli
Updated

A genealogist took commentator Tomi Lahren to task on Twitter after she made controversial comments about immigrants in this country. And she did so with Lahren’s own family history.

On Saturday, Lahren went on Fox News’ “Watters’ World” to defend White House chief of staff John Kelly’s remarks on immigrants. Kelly, formerly Trump’s homeland security secretary, told NPR last week that undocumented immigrants are “not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society.”

Lahren went even further and told host Jesse Watters that people who don’t speak English or who come from poverty shouldn’t be allowed to immigrate to the United States.

“These people need to understand that it’s a privilege to be an American and it’s a privilege that you work toward. It’s not a right. You don’t just come into this country with low skills, low education, not understanding the language and come into our country because someone says it makes them feel nice,” she said.

“That’s not what this country is based on. We are based on the rule of law, and we believe in bringing the best people into this country to make it even better. We don’t believe in importing poverty. Trust me, I live in California. We have enough poverty. We have enough issues. We don’t need any more.”

The next day journalist and genealogist Jennifer Mendelsohn tweeted about Lahren’s comments and shared some telling details about Lahren’s ancestry.

Mendelsohn tweeted that, according to the 1930 census, the political commentator’s great-great-great-grandmother had been living in the United States for 41 years and was still speaking German.

Lahren’s great-great-grandmother spoke no English after living in the United States for a decade, and her great-grandfather’s 1884 baptism was recorded in Norwegian.

Mendelsohn later wrote in a series of tweets that “people are people, and always have been.”

“Some of our ancestors broke laws, some were model citizens. Some never assimilated or spoke English. Some did. Blind lionization of the people who came before us may be just as dumb as the wholesale demonization of current immigrants,” she wrote.

She added, “What I’m trying to show here is that these nativists can’t keep trying to back up their argument by saying ‘the country doesn’t work this way’ when clearly it does, and has: for their families. So why do they *really* not want these people here? That’s what we need to dig out.”

Mendelsohn’s message was that Lahren shouldn’t be ashamed of her ancestors but should be aware of where she came from before criticizing others.

“As long as people like Lahren continue to push a specious agenda that suggests today’s immigrants are somehow wholly different from previous ones, I’ll keep showing just how alike they really are,” wrote Mendelsohn.

Lahren did not immediately respond to a request through Fox News for comment and has not responded to Mendelsohn on social media.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated Mendlesohn was German. She is not, though her Twitter location says she resides there.

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April 2015

At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”
At an event hosted by Texas Patriots PAC: “Everything’s coming across the border: the illegals, the cars, the whole thing. It’s like a big mess. Blah. It’s like vomit.”

June 2015

At a speech announcing his campaign: "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

August 2015

On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 
On NBC's "Meet the Press": “We’re going to keep the families together, we have to keep the families together, but they have to go." 

September 2015

On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”
On CBS's "60 Minutes": “We’re rounding ‘em up in a very humane way, in a very nice way. And they’re going to be happy because they want to be legalized. And, by the way, I know it doesn’t sound nice. But not everything is nice.”

November 2015

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe": “You are going to have a deportation force, and you are going to do it humanely." 

February 2016

At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”
At a GOP primary debate: “We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back ― some will come back, the best, through a process.”

March 2016

At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”
At a press conference when asked if he would consider allowing undocumented immigrants to stay: "We either have a country or we don’t. We either have a country or we don’t. We have borders or we don’t have borders. And at this moment, the answer is absolutely not.”

April 2016

At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”
At an event hosted by NBC's "Today Show": “They’re going to go, and we’re going to create a path where we can get them into this country legally, OK? But it has to be done legally. ... They’re going to go, and then come back and come back legally.”

July 2016

At the Republican National Convention: "Tonight, I want every American whose demands for immigration security have been denied ― and every politician who has denied them ― to listen very closely to the words I am about to say. On January 21st of 2017, the day after I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced."

September 2016

At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”
At a rally: “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country. Otherwise we don’t have a country.”

September 2016

On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”
On "The Dr. Oz Show": “Well, under my plan the undocumented or, as you would say, illegal immigrant wouldn’t be in the country. They only come in the country legally.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.