Tomi Lahren Hits Back At Genealogist Who Researched Her Family, Misses The Point

Jenna Amatulli
Updated

Tomi Lahren responded to the genealogist who researched her family history after the former Fox News host blasted immigrants who come to the U.S. with no English language skills.

But Lahren didn’t seem to understand the point of journalist and genealogist Jennifer Mendelsohn’s Sunday findings.

“A woman over the weekend took it upon herself to research my family history, in the hopes of digging up some kind of a ‘GOTCHA’ moment,” the former host of The Blaze told “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday, saying it was “A ‘GOTCHA’ angle to validate illegal immigration and open borders.”

Mendelsohn tweeted on Sunday that, according to the 1930 census, one of Lahren’s ancestors was living in the United States for 41 years and still spoke German. Additionally, another of Lahren’s relatives spoke no English after living in the United States for ten years.

“She found that my family who came here in the 1800s from Norway and Germany, that they spoke Norwegian and German. And, really, what she did is prove that my family came here legally,” Lahren said in rebuttal to Mendelsohn.

“But what she was hoping to do was try to call me a hypocrite for believing in merit-based immigration. Again, she failed miserably,” she added.

Mendelsohn specifically tweeted that her findings were “not about playing gotcha,” adding that “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.”

But Lahren’s rant continued.

“This really isn’t what she calls ‘resistance genealogy.’ It’s just another symptom of Trump derangement syndrome,” the 25-year-old said.

Mendelsohn also tweeted that her intention was to show that “people are people, and always have been.”

“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.”

Despite those clear explanations for why Mendelsohn shared what her post, Lahren said she was very happy that someone had such a fascination with her family history.

“I’m hoping that she will take on Elizabeth Warren’s next,” Lahren said.

“Tomi Lahren’s rich, dynamic and complex family history is a quintessentially American story,” Mendelsohn told HuffPost by email on Tuesday. “And a perfect reminder that this country has always afforded those who arrive with so little the opportunity to make a better life here. I believe it should remain that way.”

Also on HuffPost

Donald Trump

"You're going to have a deportation force, and you're going to do it humanely. Don't forget&nbsp;...&nbsp;that you have millions of people that are waiting in line to come into this country and they're waiting to come in legally. And I always say the wall, we're going to build the wall. It's going to be a real deal. It's going to be a real wall." - <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/11/politics/donald-trump-deportation-force-debate-immigration/">November 2015</a>

Marco Rubio

"I personally do not believe that it's good for America to have millions of people permanently living here who can never become Americans, who want to be Americans, who love America, but just can't become Americans." - <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/rubio-acknowledges-unpopular-immigration-stance-within-gop-n481191">December 2015</a>

Ted Cruz

"Listen, the commonsense principles that most of us understand and most Americans agree with on immigration are not complicated. It's legal? Good. Illegal? Bad." - <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-immigration-reform_564654fce4b08cda3488cd3c">November 2015</a>

Jeb Bush

"There should be a path to earned legal status for those that are here -- not amnesty -- earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time." - <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/250505-jeb-defends-act-of-love-immigration-comment">August 2015</a>

Carly Fiorina

&ldquo;If you have come here illegally and stayed here illegally, then you don't get a pass to citizenship.&rdquo; - <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/carly-fiorina-on-immigration.html">June 2015</a>
“If you have come here illegally and stayed here illegally, then you don't get a pass to citizenship.” - June 2015

Ben Carson

"The key thing is we have to secure all our borders -- north, south, east and west. ... And then turn off the spigot that dispenses all the things that they are coming here to get. Then there won&rsquo;t be any reason for them to do it." - <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/07/06/ben-carson-on-the-trump-uproar-its-the-pc-police-out-in-force/">July 2015</a>

Rand Paul

"It's an absurd idea, to round up 11 million. What's absurd about his idea is not only the rounding up part. [Donald Trump]&nbsp;says, 'oh, we're gonna welcome them all back, most of them are coming back.' Well if you take the time to send them home for breaking the law, why would you then immediately say you could come back. It's an absurd idea." - <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/rand-paul-attack-he-files-new-hampshire-n463271">November 2015</a>

Chris Christie

&ldquo;At any moment, FedEx can tell you where that package is.&nbsp;...&nbsp;Yet we let people come to this country with visas, and the minute they come in, we lose track of them.&nbsp;We need to have a system that tracks you from the moment you come in.&rdquo; - <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/us/politics/christie-proposes-immigrant-tracker-similar-to-fedex.html">August 2015</a>

Mike Huckabee

"A country that does not have secure borders is really not a country anymore. ... [The U.S. must] stem the tide of the people who are rushing over because they've heard there's a bowl of food just across the border." - <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2015/03/07/3631130/huckabee-says-immigrants-come-us-free-bowl-food-right-vote/">March 2015</a>

Rick Santorum

&ldquo;Until this summer, I was the only candidate who had a message focused on helping American workers by putting common sense limits on this surge of immigrants.&nbsp;This is not anti-immigrant, this is pro-worker." - <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/rick-santorum-carries-the-torch-against-legal-immigration">August 2015</a>

John Kasich

"I don't favor citizenship because, as I teach my kids, you don't jump the line to get into a Taylor Swift concert." - <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/12/politics/john-kasich-immigration/">August 2015</a>
"I don't favor citizenship because, as I teach my kids, you don't jump the line to get into a Taylor Swift concert." - August 2015

George Pataki

"I share the frustration, yes I think [Donald Trump]&nbsp;has tapped into a chord of people who do not want to see millions of people come here illegally, but that does not justify demonizing an entire group of people." - <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/06/politics/george-pataki-donald-trump-debate-immigration/">July 2015</a>

Jim Gilmore

"I could not more emphatically disagree with [ending birthright citizenship]. It&rsquo;s very dangerous to begin to tinker with who gets to be a citizen, who doesn&rsquo;t get to be a citizen. And it is a dreadful message to be sent to young people right now who have citizenship and are going to feel like they&rsquo;re not wanted. This is wrong. It&rsquo;s pandering. It&rsquo;s an awful-type of statement and it should be rejected summarily." - <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/jim-gilmore-all-you-need-know-365898">April 2015</a>

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.