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John Kelly said immigrants could not 'assimilate well' — so a genealogist dug up the Kelly's family history
John Kelly gives a press conference/Screenshot

John Kelly said immigrants could not 'assimilate well' — so a genealogist dug up the Kelly's family history

White House chief of staff John Kelly, made a highly offensive comments about immigrants during an interview with National Public Radio on Friday.


Kelly said immigrants are: “not people that would easily assimilate into the United States into our modern society.”

He continued: “They’re overwhelmingly rural people in the countries they come from — fourth-, fifth-, sixth-grade educations are kind of the norm. They don’t speak English. … They don’t integrate well, they don’t have the skills."

Kelly received a serious backlash from colleagues for these comments. One genealogist, took it a step further.

Jennifer Mendelsohn, looked up Kelly's ancestry to prove to him and the rest of America that we all come from immigrants. Mendelsohn found out through a 1900 census bureau that Kelly's great grandfather lived in America undocumented for 18 years and could not "read, write, or speak English."

She revealed her findings on Twitter:

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