Rep. Brian Babin, a Republican freshman in Congress, represents Texas’ 36th District. He succeeds far-right firebrand Rep. Steve Stockman, who assumed an ambitious and predictably unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate. Like his predecessor, Babin has openly embraced nativist policies and quickly become a representative in the mold of virulently nativist Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Steve King (R-IA), all three of whom are scheduled to speak at this year’s ACT! for America conference.
ACT! has announced that the topic of refugee resettlement will be a prominent one at this year’s conference. With that in mind, Babin is a natural choice to address conference attendees. In July, Babin introduced the Resettlement Accountability National Security Act of 2015. Babin’s extreme bill would suspend the admission of refugees immediately upon its enactment.
No surprise, the legislation was lauded by nativist activists and groups including Ann Corcoran-another speaker at this year’s conference-and, of course, ACT! itself.