During an anti-immigrant “Demagnetize America” Town Hall Meeting in Franklin, Tennessee on April 27, Nashville radio talk show personality Phil Valentine advised Border Patrol Agents to shoot undocumented immigrants. FAIR National Field Director Susan Tully chuckled at the idea, while the large crowd erupted into applause.

Tully described how Border Patrol Agents, who apprehend undocumented immigrants from Mexico, were forced to fingerprint, check for possible FBI records, and then return them to Mexico. This can happen as many as seven times, Tully claimed to have been told by a Border Patrol Agent in Laredo, Texas. Tully continued with her story, relating the conversation with this agent.

Transcription:

Tully: “I said, ‘what do you do on the eighth time?’”
Valentine: “Shoot him.”
Tully: (chuckles)
(Audience cheers)

Listen here (mp3).

Earlier in the meeting, Valentine also promoted the racist “reconquista” conspiracy theory during the town hall event during his talk with Theresa Harmon of Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policies.

Nearly one thousand people packed The Forum for the event, hosted by Valentine and broadcast over SuperTalk 99.7WTN. Also sharing the stage with Valentine, State Senator Bill Ketron (R-13), State Representative Tom DuBois (R – 64), and State Representative Glen Casada (R – 63). Valentine also read a personal statement from US Representative Tom Tancredo. Minutemen co-founder Jim Gilchrist and US Congressperson Marsha Blackburn both failed to attend, though advertised.

Valentine’s comment marked the second time this year that a radio host suggested the shooting of undocumented immigrants.

On March 8, 2006, Brian James, a fill-in talk show host with Phoenix AM radio station KFYI, suggested on the air that a solution to the immigration problem in Arizona would be to kill undocumented immigrants as they cross the border. "What we'll do is randomly pick one night every week where we will kill whoever crosses the border," James said in the broadcast. "Step over there and you die. You get to decide whether it's your lucky night or not. I think that would be more fun." He said he would be "happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope" and kill people as the cross the border. He also suggested that the National Guard shoot illegal immigrants and receive "$100 a head."