SC sheriff shares ‘Immigrants, not Americans, must adapt’ in pro-Trump Facebook post
A South Carolina sheriff shared a post on Facebook that read, in part, “Immigrants, not Americans, must adapt... Take it or leave it,” similar to messages from President Donald Trump’s recent call to “send back” a congresswoman to her native Somalia.
Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright’s post has had more than 2,000 comments in two days from all over the political spectrum ranging from support to concern that the elected sheriff can do his job without prejudice for immigrant communities. It’s been shared more than 3,200 times.
The sheriff defended sharing the 584-word post on his personal Facebook page this week. He told WSPA he didn’t mean to offend anyone.
“No one should worry about how I do my job because I’ve said it time and time again and I truly believe this, when I’m working and you dial 911 it doesn’t matter to me if you agree with me, if you like me, vote for me, none of that matters. It matters that we’re able to communicate with you and actually help you and figure out what the problems are,” Wright told the station.
The comments on his post include people in support, writing, “I absolutely agree!” with American flags. But also a good number of comments echo what one person wrote: “You have no business working in public service!” or another, “You are what’s wrong with America.”
The comments, as tends to happen online, descend into expletives and vitriol.
The sheriff’s post is one that has been shared and changed and morphed for years online. A large section that starts “Quote” has been incorrectly attributed to Trump in the post, but has also been assigned to two different Australian prime ministers, according to Snopes.
The Aussie from the early 2010s version reads, “Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented,” Snopes reports. The only difference with that and Wright’s version is the word “Australian.”
That version, and much of this new rendition was “lifted from an opinion piece written in 2001 by a U.S. Air Force veteran shortly after the 9/11 attacks on America and had nothing whatsoever to do with Australia.” The original author is named Barry Loudermilk, according to Snopes.
The post ends, as other iterations have on social media, with the call to share the text, “IF we circulate this amongst ourselves, WE will find the courage to start speaking and voicing the same truths.”
It continues, “If you agree, please SEND THIS ON and ON, to as many people as you know....and for those who disagree, move to a third world country and live there.“
