Both Republican and Democratic strategists argued that the defeat of Texas Democrat Maureen Galindo — a congressional candidate who said Zionists should be held in ICE detention centers — was not the «course correction» some Democrats claimed, despite efforts to frame the loss as a rejection of far-left extremism.

Galindo’s suggestion on a podcast that aired just weeks before the runoff election that «billionaire Zionists» should be imprisoned at the Karnes ICE facility in Texas garnered massive blowback from Democrats and Republicans alike, who alleged Galindo’s comment was a proposal for internment camps.

Congressional Democratic leadership in particular was vocal in their condemnation of Galindo. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., issued a joint statement with Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene calling Galindo’s words «vile» and «disqualifying.»

In response to the backlash, Galindo shared in a statement claiming that she never called for «internment camps,» blaming the uproar over a headline by an «unethical journalist.»

DEMOCRATS VOW TO VOTE ‘EVERY SINGLE DAY’ TO EXPEL FELLOW DEM FROM CONGRESS IF SHE WINS MIDTERM

Galindo lost Tuesday’s runoff election, capturing roughly 36% of the vote. Her opponent, Johnny Garcia, who is viewed as a moderate Democrat, won the runoff race with 63.8% of the vote. Back in March, Galindo narrowly won the state’s primary with 29.2% of the vote. Garcia was a close second, winning 27% of the vote.

«I think no matter how hard the Republican donors pushed this Democratic primary candidate, that the voters looked at her and said, ‘Now we don’t want a nut case here in the House of Representatives,’» progressive talk show host Thom Hartmann told Fox News Digital.

Just days after Galindo’s comments about imprisoning Zionists became public, Lead Left PAC, a mysterious super PAC suspected of having ties to Republican donors, donated half a million dollars to Galindo’s campaign. The suspicions stemmed in part from a Punchbowl News report that found links to WinRed — the GOP’s fundraising platform — embedded in the metadata of Lead Left PAC’s website.

«I think probably the more interesting part of this is that Lead Left —this super PAC that is filled with Republican donors — was pushing her,» Hartmann told Fox News.

DEMOCRAT BLASTED BY LEFT AND RIGHT AFTER SOFTENING STANCE ON SCANDAL-HIT MAINE CANDIDATE

Maureen Galindo, left, and Johnny Garcia, candidates for U.S. House District 35, participate in a forum held by the League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area in the Sidney Board Room at Brooks in San Antonio on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (Katina Zentz / San Antonio Express-News via Getty Images)

«‘Hey, let’s find a wacky lefty sex therapist who will make antisemitic remarks, and let’s really promote her in a Democratic primary,’ which is what they did, and you know it’s a good thing she lost,» Hartmann said. «I mean this is the kind of candidate that does damage to the Democrats.»

But Republican political strategist Ben Ferguson pushed back on the notion that Galindo’s extremist views are out of step with the current crop of Democratic candidates, pointing to Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who has a Nazi tattoo.

«If Democratic voters were truly revolting against the activist-left, then why are some of the loudest and fastest-rising voices in the party still pushing ideas that most Americans consider completely outside the mainstream?» Ferguson told Fox News Digital.

CENTRIST DEMS TURN ON FAR LEFT AFTER THE ELECTION: ‘IDENTITY POLITICS’ IS ‘ABSOLUTELY KILLING US’

Graham Platner, a Democrat from Maine and U.S. Senate candidate, speaks in South Portland, Maine, on March 6, 2026. (Sofia Aldinio/Bloomberg)

«The truth is Democrats are not rejecting extremism — they’re only rejecting the versions that become politically impossible to defend on cable news,» Ferguson continued.

Richard Gordon, a political analyst who previously worked on Democratic campaigns, suggested that Galindo’s defeat was more a reflection of her hitting a ceiling than a course correction among voters. He noted that voter turnout dropped by 56% in the runoff compared to the primary election and that Galindo’s vote total also dropped by about 44%, signaling she retained most of her base.

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«I don’t think the voters self-corrected as much as she hit her ceiling and was never going to win as Mr. Garcia, the more moderate and closer to the electorate philosophically candidate, was able to consolidate the vote of the other candidates in the primary,» Gordon told Fox News Digital. «Let’s not forget that Ms. Galindo only received 29.2% of the vote the first time. That means that 70% of voters wanted someone else, which is close to the 64% that Mr. Garcia received in the runoff.»

«In my view, Ms. Galindo would have lost anyway,» Gordon said. «She wasn’t a bridge too far for progressives as much as she was just too liberal for this district.»

NEWARK – EXCLUSIVE: Speaking with Fox News Digital at the site of a multi-day confrontation between anti-ICE protesters and federal law enforcement, Republican state lawmaker Paul Kanitra ripped into Democrats for demanding what he described as «five-star accommodations» for illegal immigrants.

Just days after many top New Jersey Democrats, including Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Sen. Andy Kim, joined protesters outside of ICE’s Delaney Hall, Kanitra called Democrats’ handling of illegal immigration a «disgrace.»

«Democrats created this chaos with all their laws. Gov. Sherrill was in office for a couple of weeks before she passed three radical protective illegal immigration bills, taking the masks off of ICE agents, protecting their [illegal immigrants’] status here, giving them more benefits, and here she is out here knowing full well she wasn’t going to get in,» he said.

Democrats and protesters allege that detainees in the Newark ICE facility, known as Delaney Hall, have gone on a hunger strike in protest of inhumane conditions.

ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS CLASH WITH AGENTS OUTSIDE NEW JERSEY DETENTION CENTER AS GOV. SHERRILL DENIED ENTRY

On Monday, Sherrill posted on X that she had attempted to enter Delaney Hall after hearing «heartbreaking» reports of unsafe and unconstitutional conditions. She wrote that her request to access the facility was «denied this morning, raising even more questions about what they are trying to hide from public view.»

The Department of Homeland Security has shot down the claims of bad conditions and denied the hunger strike.

Kanitra asserted that Sherrill’s appearance «was a performative stunt to try to change the focus from their policies, which have created this chaos, to try to make some sort of sensational news story out of it.»

He taunted Democrats, saying, «The food service provider here at Delaney Hall is actually the same food service provider that services the $150,000 to $500,000 suites at Met Life Stadium.»

«It seems to be good enough for those guys, so I assume it’s good enough for our illegal invaders behind us,» he said, pointing back to the facility.

The lawmaker said he actually agrees that «every public official should be allowed to see what’s going on inside [the ICE facility] for themselves,» which he said, «will debunk these crazed claims that they have.»

«We already heard from Secretary Mullin himself and DHS saying that these were baseless allegations,» he continued. «I don’t know if they’re expecting the Ritz Carlton behind us, but these people are either here illegally or they were here as part of a privilege, with a visa or other procedure, and then they broke the law and are getting that revoked.»

«They shouldn’t be expecting five-star accommodations here in New Jersey,» he concluded.

MARKWAYNE MULLIN GOES OFF ON DEMS’ ‘GARBAGE’ MEMORIAL DAY ‘POLITICAL STUNT’ AT ICE FACILITY

Meanwhile, a protester named Diana Tabor told Fox News Digital that she believes the conditions inside the ICE facility are «very unfair.» Tabor, who is Black, also noted that the protesters have been questioning the ethics of ICE agents who «look like us,» saying, «it feels like betrayal.»

She said that protesters, who have been camping outside the facility for several days, are with various advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations and are prepared to keep it up for weeks or months «until justice is served.»

Tabor said she was present on her own «on the behalf of constituents in Union County who have suffered due to the misfair treatment of Delaney Hall.»

«We’ve come here from different backgrounds, different organizations, we came here with different objectives, but ultimately, we formed a big family, and we have one goal, and we’ve all come together to make that goal,» said Tabor.

She agreed, «There is credibility in protecting the American people,» but emphasized, «I do believe that there are different ways to go about it, not kidnapping people, not putting them in overcrowded detention centers, I would say that we need to find a better way to mitigate that.»

ANTI-ICE PROTEST LEADER DEMANDS RELEASE OF INMATES, SHERRILL APPEARANCE

«I do think that there are obviously people that come here and do commit crimes, and there are murders and there are rapes and there are robberies and there are people being harmed with the loose borders, and that should be taken care of accordingly, but I think that if we start using our resources adequately and we start using it to actually go against criminals who are hurting people within these borders that we’d get a lot more done,» she said.

«So, I would say that we need to start focusing more on actual crime, and not just profiling people based on what they look like,» Tabor added. «I think that there is a happy medium between protecting human rights and also protecting the country.»

ICE agents detain a protestor outside the Delaney Hall detention center after demonstrators protested the transfer of detainees in Newark, N.J., on May 26, 2026. (Andres Kudacki/AP)

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DHS responded to the protests by publishing a statement stating that certified dietitians evaluate meals and that all detainees are provided with three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries.

The agency added that detainees «also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers» and that «ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.»

Fox News Digital reached out to Sherrill and Booker for comment.

¡Quien iba a imaginar que el grito que recorría los campus de la Sorbona francesa a finales de 1800, se repetiría con la misma carga de odio en los campus universitarios del siglo XXI! El famoso “abajo los judíos” y su colofón “muerte a los judíos”, coreado por masas de estudiantes barbarizados que insultaban a Emile Zola y pedían la “ejecución inmediata” del capitán Alfred Dreyfus, se convirtió en un augurio amenazador de la tragedia que teñiría de sangre la piel de Europa. Como bien intuyó Theodor Herzl, a los judíos europeos se les acababa el tiempo, no en vano crecía el antisemitismo en todo el continente: en Viena acababa de ganar las elecciones Karl Lueger gracias al discurso antijudío; en el Imperio Ruso se producían progromos letales desde Moldavia a Rusia, pasando por Ucrania; y en Bohemia se condenaba a muerte a través de los libelos de sangre. Herlz intuyó que solo se podía garantizar la supervivencia del pueblo judío si conseguía un estado reconocido, es decir, conquistaba el derecho internacional. Ahí nació el sionismo, como escudo y protección para un pueblo paria secularmente perseguido y diezmado. Después vendría lo ya conocido, y Europa acabaría asesinando a tres cuartas partes de su población judía: quemando su alma judía, se quemaba a sí misma.

De la 1898 a 2026, y de la Sorbona a los campus norteamericanos, van 128 años en los que todo pasó y pareció que nada entendimos. La nueva oleada antisemita que inflama a los jóvenes manifestantes, se alimenta de la oscuridad de las redes y se multiplica con el libelo y la mentira, pero no es nueva, sino un calco preciso de las oleadas antisemitas que recorrieron la piel de la historia. Cambian los instrumentos y las formas, pero se mantienen intactos los prejuicios y los males que provocan. Sabemos desde siempre que el antisemitismo es la fiebre que detecta la enfermedad, la medida que nos indica cuando una sociedad se endurece, se degrada y se vuelve intolerante. Cada vez en la historia que los judíos han sufrido por su condición judía, el mundo ha vivido situaciones muy trágicas. Es el estigma más letal de la historia y ninguna sociedad sale indemne cuando esparce su veneno. Luchar contra la judeofobia es responsabilidad de todos, pero sobre todo es la responsabilidad de los que no somos judíos.

¿Qué cabe hacer con la oleada antisemita que recorre el mundo? Muchas son las instituciones democráticas -judías y no judías- que trabajan para frenar este fenómeno de odio, pero más allá de los análisis, los debates y la lucha contra los libelos virales que navegan por todas las formas de comunicación, es necesario que las instituciones planteen medidas legales, contundentes y pedagógicas para combatir el discurso de odio. Y es en este punto donde se enmarca la cuestión de los campus universitarios norteamericanos, cuya derivada antisemita desde el 7 de Octubre de 2023, ha sido el foco más brutal y efectivo de propagación del odio. En este sentido, es una buena noticia la decisión del departamento de justicia de demandar a la Universidad de California en los Ángeles (UCLA) por antisemitismo, acusada de permitir un “ambiente educativo hostil” y de actuar con “indiferencia deliberada” ante las agresiones y escraches contra estudiantes judíos en los últimos tiempos. Las 53 páginas del expediente judicial se centran sobre todo en las acciones de los campamentos palestinos vinculados al Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) (la organización que cofundó Zohran Mamdani en la universidad Bowdoin), con agresiones de todo tipo. Según la denuncia, manifestantes encapuchados “golpearon, patearon y atacaron con gas pimienta” a estudiantes judíos en reiteradas ocasiones, sin que las autoridades universitarias actuaran con la celeridad necesaria. Las consecuencias de la denuncia pueden tener un fuerte impacto financiero para UCLA, tanto con la suspensión de nuevos contratos públicos, como la obligación de retornar los fondos federales que han recibido.

Y con UCLA, son más de 60 los expedientes a las universidades bajo sospecha del departamento de Educación norteamericano, con Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, Princeton o Berkeley a la cabeza. El caso de Harvard es especialmente notorio, sobre todo después del papel que hizo su ex presidenta Claudine Gay cuando, a la pregunta de si “pedir el genocidio de los judíos violaba las normas de Harvard sobre intimidación y asedio”, respondió que “depende del contexto”. Otras universidades como Northwestern, Cornell o Brown han cerrado acuerdos de resolución con el gobierno pagando multas que van de los 50 a los 75 millones de dólares, y todas ellas se han comprometido a crear protocolos estrictos contra el antisemitismo. Muchas de ellas han prohibido oficialmente la presencia del SJP y otros grupos afines, aunque ninguna lo ha hecho por antisemitismo, sino por “violar las normas cívicas del campus”.

Sea vía denuncia o vía resolución acordada, lo cierto es que la acción del gobierno contra las universidades demuestra cierta eficacia en el control de los campus universitarios, cuya orgía de odio a los judíos llegó a la cifra de 1.600 actos violentos contra estudiantes judíos durante el tiempo de la guerra en Gaza. Pero sería ingenuo pensar que con ello quedará neutralizado el discurso antisemita, especialmente en su versión antisionista, la versión más cool del viejo antisemitismo. Lo cierto es que la judeofobia ha impactado en los discursos de izquierdas de manera muy activa, como lo ha hecho también en la derecha populista. El odio al judío vuelve a ser el comodín de muchas causas y la coartada de la violencia dialéctica. En este sentido, ha sido mayúscula la irresponsabilidad de las grandes universidades norteamericanas que confundieron el derecho al libre pensamiento, con el derecho a la hostigación y el odio. ¿Tendrán algo que ver los millones de dólares que ha aportado Qatar a dichas universidades? En el caso de Harvard, según el portal de Educación, habría recibido, de manera directa o indirecta, unos 324 millones de dólares…

Sea Qatar mediante, o por la inoperancia de los dirigentes universitarios, o por la demagogia de las izquierdas más violentes, o por todo sumado, el problema más grave es que el huevo de la serpiente se ha inoculado en los campus donde se forman las nuevas generaciones y sus nuevos líderes. Es entre los jóvenes donde más ha crecido la judeofobia, con especial aumento entre los jóvenes universitarios. Ello no es grave solo para los judíos, sino para todos los ciudadanos, porque ninguna sociedad sale indemne del antisemitismo. El odio destruye, embrutece, contamina y ennegrece la sociedad, y nunca crea nada. El odio solo genera odio.

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