Dem tied to cartel operative says ‘white nationalists’ joining immigration enforcement to ‘hunt down people’

A controversial Democratic congressional candidate running in a South Texas border district is under fire again as critics accuse him of smearing Border Patrol agents as racists, an allegation his campaign dismissed as “desperate attacks.”

Bobby Pulido, a former Latin music star running to unseat Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, is taking heat for a recent interview in which he asserted, “It’s always down to race.”

During the interview, which was on a podcast called “Mind of Geniuz,” Pulido accused the Trump administration and Republicans’ immigration enforcement agenda of being motivated by the “theory of white replacement.”

“When President Trump ran, he ran on getting rid of the bad guys. They lied to us,” Pulido said.

“It’s race. It’s always down to race. And I hate to say this, because I hate to inflame it, but I’m going to call it out because that is what it is. Look, when they have this theory of white replacement, they’re saying, ‘Oh, no, no, if it weren’t for this and this and crime,’ they’ll throw in all these other things to dance around the true issue,” he said. “Which is there’s too many brown and Black people, which they’re saying they’re just going to stay the same and be poor.”

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Pulido noted during the interview, “I do not want to demonize law enforcement.” However, he expressed that when it comes to immigration enforcement, “a lot of the people that are joining, not all of them, okay, there’s a lot of white nationalists that want to join because they want to go hunt down people, right, they’re yahoos.”

“It’s a shame,” he went on, “because then you start branding all ICE agents.”

A spokesperson for De La Cruz’s campaign decried Pulido’s comments as insulting Border Patrol agents.

Notably, just over 50 percent of Border Patrol personnel are Hispanic. The Rio Grande Valley Sector of the southern border, along which De La Cruz’s district sits, is home to roughly 3,100 Border Patrol agents and personnel, according to Texas Monthly.  

The spokesperson said that “Monica is proud to be raising her kids in South Texas,” emphasizing that “the Border Patrol agents our opponent insults are the same people she spends Friday nights with at a carne asada, sees at her kids’ schools, and prays with at church on Sunday.”

“That’s why she has their back in Congress, and that’s why she’s fighting every day to lower costs for families, protect Social Security and Medicare for our abuelitos, and keep our communities safe,” said the spokesperson.  

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In response, a Pulido campaign spokesperson dismissed the accusations, telling Fox News Digital in an emailed statement, “These desperate attacks prove one thing, the GOP establishment is in full panic mode because Mentirosa [Spanish for ‘liar’] Monica De La Cruz is running a dumpster fire of a campaign and they know they’re going to lose.”

“Bobby Pulido has family and friends who serve in Border Patrol and he has been a lifelong supporter of our law enforcement — South Texas knows that and they’re going to make it loud and clear in November,” the spokesperson added.

Since launching his congressional campaign, he has faced scrutiny for an array of matters, including a resurfaced music video depicting him engaging in lewd acts as well as his long-time prior association with a bandmate convicted as a child sex offender. He has firmly denied knowing the bandmate’s conviction and said he immediately cut off ties when he found out.

He has also faced criticism for sharing the stage with Julión Álvarez, a cartel operative sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, according to the Daily Wire. A spokesperson for Pulido’s campaign told the outlet that despite the singer-turned-politician calling him “amigo” in a Facebook post, “Bobby and Álvarez are not friends.” The spokesperson said, “This is just another case of Republicans not understanding our culture – ‘amigo’ is a common expression.”

Zach Kraft, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement that “there’s a clear pattern” with Pulido.

“He sides with criminals over law enforcement and families, every time,” said Kraft, adding, “He smears Border Patrol agents after spending decades bringing a convicted child predator, who raped an eight-year-old girl, to local parks and festivals. South Texans know he has no business being anywhere near Congress, and they will reject him in November.”

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Meanwhile, Paul Perez, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told Fox News Digital that “Bobby Pulido insults the Border Patrol agents protecting our community, but he had no problem spending decades knowingly bringing a convicted child sex predator into our neighborhoods or palling around with a sanctioned cartel operative.”

“The agents who patrol this border, most of them Hispanic, know exactly whose side Bobby Pulido is on. It isn’t ours,” said Perez.

Fox News Digital also reached out to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee for comment.