Who Is Teresa Haley? NAACP Leader Who Called Migrants 'Savages'

NAACP leader Teresa Haley is facing a call to resign after referring to migrants as "savages" in a video recording.

Haley, president of the Illinois state NAACP, accuses migrants of invading homes and "raping people" in a video that was released by former DuPage County NAACP President Patrick Watson on Tuesday.

Newsweek reached out for comment to Haley via email on Wednesday.

In the video, Haley appears to express resentment toward shelter and aid given to "busloads" of migrants who are "dumped" in Chicago, complaining that Black residents enduring homelessness are not given the same aid.

"Black people have been on the streets forever and ever," Haley says. "And nobody cares, because they say that we're drug addicts, we've got mental health issues."

"But these immigrants who come over here, they've been raping people, they've been breaking into homes," she continues. "They're like savages as well! They don't speak the language and they look at us like we're crazy."

Haley denied her own words after being tracked down by Chicago ABC station WLS-TV on vacation in Dubai, suggesting that the video had been faked and saying "with AI, anything is possible."

Watson told the outlet that Haley "should absolutely resign" over her remarks, arguing that a person "that has that kind of sentiment and that kind of thought against migrant communities" is "unfit to be the president."

The video was purportedly recorded during a Zoom meeting between Haley and state NAACP leaders in October.

Watson, who resigned in protest of Haley's comments, told The Chicago Tribune that he decided to push back against her after she derisively referred to LGBTQ+ people as "they, them, it."

He described Haley as a member of "a vocal minority" on migrants within the Black community, maintaining that "public sentiment is very much in favor of helping migrants" and arguing that "you can be for raising up your people without denigrating other people."

Haley, who is also president of the Springfield NAACP branch and a senior policy adviser at the Foundation for Drug Policy Solution, is the first female president of the organization's Illinois state conference.

She was presented with the "activist of the year" award at the 2020 NAACP Image Awards, having been involved with the association for over 25 years.

A biography on the website of her company Haley & Associates describes Haley as "a longtime passionate civil rights activist, public policy advocate, professional trainer, and dynamic speaker" who holds degrees in Communications and Public Administration.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker denounced Haley's migrant remarks and urged her to apologize in comments to the Tribune, while saying she "should recognize that immigrants in this country are all around us."

"Virtually all of us came here from somewhere else," said Pritzker. "So remarks like that are commentary on our entire society. Extraordinarily inappropriate."