Michigan state rep confuses March Madness team buses for ‘illegal invaders,’ doubles down

The last several years have seen a lot of claims about “illegal immigration.” That’s sometimes included discussion of particular southern states organizing flights to send asylum seekers to northern states or cities. That appears what led to a very strange tweet Wednesday from Michigan state representative Matt Maddock (a Republican who currently represents the 51st District, areas covering part of suburban Detroit’s Oakland County). There, Maddock complained about flights and buses of “illegal invaders” in Detroit, and tagged Michigan Republican chairman Pete Hoekstra:

Happening right now. Three busses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort? @petehoekstra pic.twitter.com/3xFhIP1jf1

— Matt Maddock (@matthewmaddock) March 28, 2024

However, as many quickly noted, that flight had…the Gonzaga Bulldogs’ men’s basketball team, set to face the Purdue Boilermakers in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 Friday at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena.

Just to be clear, this was the Gonzaga basketball team.

Photos show Gonzaga getting on an Allegiant plane to Detroit for the Sweet 16, and Flight Radar shows a plane from GEG to DTW landed at 7:25 p.m., around the time this photo was posted.

This is a wild tweet https://t.co/dzW0IR8A5g

— Maxwell White (@MaxWhiteWXYZ) March 28, 2024

Attempts to point that out to Maddock did not find much success, though.

Sure kommie. Good talking point.

— Matt Maddock (@matthewmaddock) March 28, 2024

And he then doubled down on his take Thursday:

We know this is happening. 100,000’s of illegals are pouring into our country. We know it’s happening in Michigan. Our own governor is offering money to take them in! Since we can’t trust the #FakeNews to investigate, citizens will. The process of investigating these issues takes…

— Matt Maddock (@matthewmaddock) March 28, 2024

Maddock (known for his bail bonds business ownership; he is not the MMA fighter) was first elected in 2018. He gained further prominence in early 2021 when he and his wife Meshawn led efforts to overturn Michigan’s 2020 presidential election voting. He was kicked out of the GOP caucus in April 2022 over allegedly violating confidentiality rules, but was readmitted in January 2023 after winning reelection. His Twitter bio of “Trump Endorsed, Ranked Most Conservative State Representative, Freedom Caucus, Anti-communist, Husband of Michigan’s Most Wanted Republican @MeshawnMaddock” tells you a fair bit about his positions.

But Maddock apparently isn’t following the NCAA Tournament closely. And he was wildly wrong on who was on these buses. That’s amusing, as he once introduced a “Fact-Checker Registration Act” requiring fact-checkers to register with the state and pay fines for inaccuracies; it has not yet made it out of committee. And that led to him making an incredible Facebook post, cited by Detroit’s WDIV at the time:

So Maddock should perhaps fact-check himself a bit. As one commentator noted, though, this could be a moniker potentially embraced by visiting teams:

“Illegal invaders” is a world-class nickname for Sweet Sixteen teams https://t.co/3LUlZHGuUN

— Fireball sommelier (@Sheehan_Sports) March 28, 2024

This is just the latest absolutely false story about the NCAA Tournament to go viral. But this one came from an elected state representative, not a fake reporter.

[Matt Maddock on Twitter/X; image via Matt Maddock on YouTube]