Help Me Understand How Hispanic Law School Students Affiliate with Nazis and Promote Hatred of Minority Groups?

How a New Generation of Hispanic Conservatives Became Vulnerable to White‑Nationalist Grooming

Adolph Hitler and Francisco Franco Meeting at Hendaye (en.wiki) — Meeting at Hendaye — Wikipedia

Sometimes I write about subjects in the hope that by the time I finish, I’ll have a clearer understanding of my subject than when I started. Recently, a chat was leaked from a Young Republican group at Florida International University Law School, containing repeated racist slurs, explicit threats against Black people, and positive references to Nazi ideology. Florida International University and its affiliated Law School are about 65% Hispanic, and the Young Republican group is overwhelmingly so.

The chat group was founded by Abel Carvajal, a Hispanic American, who is the secretary of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party and a law student at FIU. The group, formed immediately after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, initially had some Black members, who were quickly run off.

The participants posting most often in the WhatsApp group have Hispanic American backgrounds. William Bejerano describes graphic methods of killing Black people, repeatedly using the n-word while detailing acts such as crucifixion, beheading, and other forms of violence. Bejerano flooded the chat with fantasies about killing and mutilating Black people, including “crucify filthy blacks,” “curb stomp pregnant black niggers” “exterminate niggers in the gas chamber,” “feed niggers to alligators,” “stomp nigger skulls with steel-toed boots,” and “drown niggers in fried chicken grease.” Dariel Gonzalez, the recruitment chair for FIU’s College Republicans, replied in the group to the comments, “How edgy.” Here are a few other quotes from Gonzalez:

“Ew, you had colored professors?!”

“I reguse [sic] to be indoctrinated by the coloreds.”

“Avoid the coloreds like the plague.”

“You can fuck all the kikes you want. Just don’t marry them and procreate.”

The President of FIU’s Turning Point USA chapter, Ian Valdes, responded:

“I would def not marry a Jew.”

A Black female tried participating in the chat, but left after being called a “nigger.” Chat founder Carvajal asked:

“Why didn’t miggress leave?

Carvajal used “Miggress”, “Migglet”, and “Migger” to refer to Black women, Black children, and Black people, in general.

I wasn’t shocked so much that a Republican chat room had conversations full of racist slurs and professing a love of Adolph Hitler. The same types of comments have been found in private chat rooms for police officers, which is unfortunate, but not surprising. What was news to me was that Hispanic Americans would be showing love for Hitler, while hating Blacks and Jews in America, at a time when they were being singled out by an immigration policy targeting Hispanic immigrants and citizens alike.

I looked at the history and found that there were once ties between Spain and Nazi Germany, with Spain sending raw materials to Germany to produce weapons of war. Francisco Franco owed his victory in the Spanish Civil War to Hitler and Mussolini, who supplied aircraft, weapons, and troops. The Condor Legion’s bombing of Guernica in 1937 became one of the most infamous Nazi interventions in foreign conflict.

On the other hand, around 15,000 Spanish Republican refugees were deported to Nazi concentration camps after being captured in German‑occupied France. Approximately 7,200 of these were held specifically in Mauthausen, the camp most associated with Spanish prisoners. At Gusen, a subcamp of Mauthausen, over 4,200 Spanish prisoners died, many within the first year. By late 1941, nearly 3,000 Spaniards had already died in Gusen alone. Mauthausen was designated a Grade III camp — reserved for “the incorrigible enemies of the Reich,” and Spanish Republicans were classified as “Rotspanier” (Red Spaniards), marking them for especially brutal treatment. Spain has largely hidden this part of their history in a manner that would make Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump proud.

Nazis regarded Spaniards, along with Spanish-speaking people in Latin America and South America, as less than white people but not worthy of extinction like they considered Jewish people, Black people, and gays. Many Hispanic people in the Americas don’t consider Spain their mother country or “madre patria.” The majority of Spanish -speaking people in those countries view Spain as a colonizer. They wouldn’t automatically adopt any alliances of Franco, who ruled Spain as a dictator from 1939 until he died in 1975.

Miami and FIU draw from many parts of the Spanish‑speaking world, but a few national origins clearly and consistently dominate. The demographic patterns in the city and at the university reinforce each other: Miami is one of the most heavily Hispanic metropolitan areas in the United States, and FIU is a federally designated Hispanic‑Serving Institution with a student body that mirrors the region.

Cuba is by far the most heavily represented Spanish‑speaking nation in Miami. Cuban migration has shaped the city for more than half a century, and Cubans remain the largest Latino subgroup in South Florida. Historical accounts show that by the late 1980s, 70% of Miami’s Hispanic population was of Cuban origin. This dominance continues today, reflected in Miami’s overall Hispanic majority of 70.2%.

FIU’s student body reflects this regional pattern: the university is 67% Hispanic, and Cuban‑American students make up a substantial share of that population. There is a major presence of Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Nicaraguans, Colombians, and Venezuelans, among others. None of those groups has historically supported Nazi Germany. In World War II, Cuba declared war on the Axis powers. Thousands of Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. military against the Axis.

Hispanic Americans who affiliate themselves with Nazi or white‑supremacist ideology represent a small, atypical minority, but the phenomenon is real and documented. Scholars describe it as a form of identity dissonance in which individuals adopt an ideology that explicitly devalues them. Understanding why this happens requires examining psychology, social dynamics, and how extremist movements adapt their messaging.

Research on minorities who adopt Nazi or white‑supremacist ideology shows that motivations are rarely ideological purity; instead, they reflect attempts to resolve personal or social tensions.

1. Desire for “proximity to whiteness.” Some individuals seek legitimacy or elevated status by aligning with groups perceived as powerful. One study notes that minority adherents often reinterpret white‑supremacist ideology to create a sense of “white proximity” and personal validation.

2. Search for belonging. Extremist groups often provide a sense of community, identity, and purpose — especially appealing to people who feel socially isolated or marginalized.

3. Internalized racism. Individuals may absorb negative stereotypes about their own group and adopt ideologies that promise order, hierarchy, or personal empowerment.

4. Masculinity and violence culture. Some cases involve attraction to the aesthetics of militarism, weapons, and hyper‑masculine identity, which extremist groups amplify.

These factors help explain why a small number of Hispanic Americans might gravitate toward ideologies that contradict their own heritage. Those factors are not limited to Hispanics but can apply to any ethnicity, including white people seeking identity.

Modern extremist movements have adapted their messaging to appeal to non‑white individuals by reframing Nazi ideology in ways that obscure its original racial hierarchy. Instead of an appeal to race, they promote the following:

1. Selective reinterpretation. Extremist groups downplay biological racism and emphasize themes like anti‑government sentiment, anti‑immigrant rhetoric, or conspiracy theories.

2. Shared grievances. Some individuals adopt Nazi symbols as expressions of anger, alienation, or anti‑establishment identity rather than coherent ideology.

3. Online radicalization. Social media platforms expose users to extremist content that blends memes, irony, and propaganda, making it easier for individuals to adopt symbols without fully understanding their historical meaning.

A USA Today report on a Hispanic mass shooter who embraced neo‑Nazi ideas highlights this dynamic: experts noted that neo‑Nazism can exert a “visceral allure” even for people the ideology deems inferior.

Nazism in the Americas has existed since the 1930s, though early movements were mostly tied to German diaspora communities rather than Hispanic populations. These groups attempted to transplant Nazi ideology into the Western Hemisphere, sometimes gaining local followers but never achieving broad support.

The modern phenomenon of Hispanic Americans adopting Nazi symbolism is not a continuation of those earlier movements. Instead, it reflects contemporary social fragmentation, online radicalization, and the ability of extremist ideologies to mutate and detach from their original racial doctrines.

I live in Florida, and while surrounded by Hispanic culture, I’m not immersed in it. I interact almost daily with people of Hispanic heritage, but I would not be invited into a private chat group. I came closer to being immersed in Hispanic culture in New York, where I worked on the grounds of the U.S. Open tennis in Queens. I ran the largest merchandise store on the grounds, which had five shifts of workers. I managed approximately 120 people a day, of which about half were Latino.

There was an age gap. When I started working there for several summers, I was in my mid-thirties, while most of the part-time workers ranged from 18 to 25. Like Black people, Hispanics had to learn to culture swap and act one way around white people and another when alone with each other. Still, the environment was relaxed, and I became close to several of the workers. I experienced none of the hatred for Black people found in that Miami chat group.

What I don’t understand about the FIU group, mostly law students who were presumably intelligent, is why they worked so hard to be part of a group that will never fully appreciate them. Stephen Miller would deport you all, given the chance. Donald Trump might hire you at Mar-a-Lago, but he would never be your friend unless you were rich. If they were too dark, even Jeffrey Epstein would reject your girls.

The FIU chat group singled out Byron Donalds to attack. Donalds, a Black Republican Congressman, is currently running for Florida Governor with an endorsement from Donald Trump. Trump only endorsed Donalds because he has demonstrated complete fealty and to get under Ron DeSantis’s skin. DeSantis was looking to move his wife, Casey, into the role, until the matter of a $10 million fraud came up.

One of Donalds’s opponents, hedge fund manager James Fishback, made news with a series of racist remarks, including comparing Donalds’ campaign contributions to a slave auction, saying Donalds would turn Florida into a “section 8 ghetto,” and fantasizing about former CNN reporter Don Lemon being lynched.

Donalds responded to the group chats in his best Tim Scott (America is not a racist country) voice:

“Everyone has the First Amendment right to say what they want — even when it’s vile and offensive. But free speech doesn’t entitle someone to hold a leadership position within the Republican Party or the conservative movement. The comments reported run counter to the values our party stands for. The Republican Party rejects racism, antisemitism, and bigotry.” — Byron Donalds

The Hispanic members of the FIU Young Republicans, after they’ve been used for all they can contribute, will eventually discover that white Republicans were never that into you. I imagine there are secret chat groups in Republican strongholds outside of Miami where you are the topic of hate speech.

FIU’s president, Jeanette M. Nuñez, a Latina leader of a majority‑Hispanic institution, issued a strong institutional response affirming that FIU “does not and will not tolerate” hate, discrimination, or racism. An investigation was launched through FIU Police, the Office of Civil Rights, and Student Conduct. FIU is coordinating with local, state, and federal law enforcement. Students have been encouraged to report information through official channels.

After Dariel Gonzalez referred to a woman the group was discussing as a “half-breed” and a “mongrel,” Ian Valdez laughed it off, but acknowledged the terms could get them in trouble.

“If this chat gets leaked, we’re so cooked lmao”

Vice President J.D. Vance is willing to forgive and forget. Here’s what he had to say:

“Don’t focus on what kids say in group chats. The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys. They tell edgy, offensive jokes. Like, that’s what kids do, and I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke — is cause to ruin their lives.”

Do with that what you will.