Van Orden’s social media history shows pattern of anti-Muslim, racist comments

Republican Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden has a history of Islamophobia and racism, including spreading baseless fears of American Muslims being terrorists and child rapists. 

Van Orden’s Twitter history and media appearances show the sitting U.S. congressman is not adhering to the attempts by President Donald Trump’s administration to downplay the White House’s immigration policies ahead of the midterms. Public polling suggests the majority of Americans disapprove of the president’s tactics. 

Van Orden is seeking reelection in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District. In 2024, he won by about 11,000 votes over Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke, who is seeking the seat again. 

Locally, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased its presence in Wisconsin.

One prominent Black Muslim leader in Milwaukee said Van Orden’s online history shows he is incapable of doing the job any longer and has further endangered followers of Islam.  

Here is a history of Van Orden’s Islamophobic and racist comments: 

Just last week, Van Orden replied to a tweet that stated “Muslims struggle to denounce child rape.” The congressman wrote, “This is horrible and completely true.”  

The week prior, he agreed with a X account spreading an unsubstantiated claim that brown Muslim men raped 250,000 white children through grooming gangs. 

“Correct” and “It is shocking and shameful,” Van Orden wrote. 

On June 17, Matt Walsh, a right wing influencer, spread a lie that it’s part of the Muslim culture that “sexual torture and slavery of children is commonplace,” to which Van Orden replied, “This is an accurate statement.” 

When the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee was arrested by the Trump administration in April, Van Orden took to X to say, “I find it shocking that someone named: ‘Salah Salem Sarsour’ would be arrested for terrorism. This must be a mistake.”

A federal judge ordered the release of Sarsour earlier this month. 

In March, Van Orden found it “absolutely unacceptable” that nearly half of the doctors in a Texas hospital’s residency program were Pakistani. 

In February, during the Pepin County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner, Van Orden said the United States was susceptible to a domestic terrorist attack from people in big cities with Islamic populations. 

“It is indisputable that there are radical Muslim sleeper cells here in America murdering American citizens. It is also indisputable that there are people here in America that are being radicalized currently by foolish democrat politician’s hate America rhetoric,” he wrote on X on March 13. 

“And everybody. I’m not kidding. Keep your head on a swivel, the face out of your phone and pay attention when you’re walking around, especially in concentrated urban areas,” he reiterated March 2 on a conservative radio show. 

Following the election of the first Muslim mayor of New York City, Van Orden made several comments. 

Just this week, he said Jewish people who voted for Zohran Mamdani have “suicidal empathy.” In March, he agreed with a post claiming Mamdani was signaling Islam had conquered America’s biggest city. He responded to a conservative radio host that same day. 

In recent years, Van Orden has stated countries with significant Muslim populations have “committed cultural suicide.” 

Van Orden has called for the denaturalization of American journalists born elsewhere, while defending conservative journalists born in America. The congressman called to “de naturalize” and deport journalist Medhi Hasan when he fell for a fake news video of Hasan comparing Trump’s war failure in Iran to 9/11. 

Van Orden had previously said it would be unfair to deport conservative columnist Bill Kristol because he was an American. “He is an American citizen, so we should not deport him, as that would be unlawful, but he should be shit on like the @nytimes lining a bird cage,” he wrote in November.  

Recently, Van Orden followed James Fishback, a candidate for governor of Florida who is running a campaign that many have described as racist. 

Fishback has repeatedly called his Black opponent Byron Donalds a “slave” to donors. He also used the term “By’rone” and referenced a “Section 8 ghetto” while reposting a far-right account on X.

But Van Orden’s history of bigoted comments goes back a while. Like Trump, he claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Ohio during the 2024 election cycle.

He also said he would show Colin Kaepernick real oppression for kneeling during the national anthem. “Not a fan of commenting on stuff like this, but I am disgusted with this punk Kaepernick. I can show him oppression,” he wrote in 2016.

In 2015, he responded to a tweet of a man holding a decapitated head that stated, “Call me a hater if you want but when is the last time you saw a photo of anyone but a Muslim holding a human head?”

“Very good question,” Van Orden wrote.  

Black Muslim leader says Van Orden unfit for office

Bramouse Muhammad, the current Imam of the Sultan Muhammad Islamic Center and director of education at Clara Mohammed School in Milwaukee, said Van Orden’s rhetoric only adds to the growing culture of Islamophobia and antisemitism. 

“We have heard and seen the well-documented uptick in violent crimes and actions against Jews and Jewish Americans,” Muhammad said in a statement. “We have seen news coverage of multiple incidents, presenting the image of innocent Americans who are victims of senseless ‘hate crimes.’ We have also seen this conversation about hate crimes flare up around other segments of America’s population. Just as sensitive as we have been to these other groups, we need to be just as sensitive to other groups. Especially in light of the fact that we have a commander-in-chief who, from day one, has pressed the issue of immigration and stoked fear among the American people about immigrants and Muslims. When people think of immigrants, due to a paired association, many think of Muslims and Mexicans. Our current administration has strategically linked the two, fostering a fear of immigrants and Muslims among the American people. The President of the United States cannot be absolved of responsibility for this rise in rhetoric, language, and policy that slanders, defames, and insults the millions of Muslims in America — and that has created, and will continue to create, an atmosphere leading directly to increased attacks on the livelihood and safety of Muslims in America.

“I find it difficult to believe that someone can rise to the highest ranks and stature of American politics without knowing of the significant contributions of Islam in America. Yet here we are. In 2026, we have politicians making statements that reflect a striking lack of sensitivity, sensibility, and common brother/sisterhood of humanity. We have figures like Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith calling Islam a ‘demonic death cult,’ former Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene linking Islam to terrorism, and Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert mocking Representative Ilhan Omar’s appearance by suggesting she looks like a terrorist — among many other blatant statements about Muslims and Islam, all following the lead of the ‘pied piper in chief,’ President Donald J. Trump. Interestingly, many of these statements originate from the Republican side. This is not to say that Democrats are entirely free of similar sentiments about Islam — but when an elected official is bold enough to make such reckless statements publicly, it falls to the American people to correct, check, and challenge them. Elected officials serve at the pleasure and will of their constituents and are obligated to reflect the best interests of the people they represent.

“This fear-stoking rhetoric is not confined to the South and East. It has also made its way to the Midwest — specifically Wisconsin — through Representative Derrick Van Orden. As a U.S. House Representative for Wisconsin, he has followed the same tune as other politicians around the country. He would likely claim that his statements or agreements center on the conflict between Iran and the U.S., tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, or ‘radical’ Islam. But that isn’t accurate. He has been complicit in agreeing with slanderous statements — such as those made by Kevin Bass, who spread fallacious and incorrect claims about the Prophet Muhammad being divine and a child rapist; insensitive statements made by Vickie Paledine; and remarks by Matt Walsh asserting that the sexual torture and enslavement of children is part of Muslim culture. Van Orden’s pattern of agreement with incorrect and inflammatory statements doesn’t end there. He has also agreed with claims about Democrats descending into ‘Islamo-leftism,’ cited Britain as the new ‘gateway country’ for Muslims, and even weighed in on the detainment of Selah Sarsour, supporting DHS’s claim that he was an alleged Islamic terrorist. As previously mentioned, this recurring rhetoric — voiced by many politicians, mostly Republicans — is strikingly consistent, and is almost always paired with insensitive, inflammatory language targeting Muslims, Islam, immigration policy, and the broader dehumanization of others.

“Based on these statements, attitudes, and patterns of agreement — none of which reflect respect for the millions of Muslim Americans who call this country home — we cannot, in good conscience, support Derrick Van Orden as a representative for the state of Wisconsin. A representative is entrusted to serve and uplift all of his constituents, not to lend credibility to rhetoric that demeans and endangers an entire faith community. Until he is willing to publicly reject this language and hold himself accountable for the company and statements he has aligned with, he does not deserve our support or our vote.”

Earlier this month, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the campaign arm of House Democrats, added the race to its Red to Blue program, signaling that it will provide Cooke with fundraising and other campaign support. The committee said its internal polling found that Van Orden is virtually tied with any Democratic challenger and trails among self-identified independent voters.

Cooke faces one opponent in the Democratic primary on Aug. 11: Emily Berge. Van Orden has no primary opponent. The general election is Nov. 3.