The Sacramento County Republican Party Central Committee has expelled one of its members after he admitted to being a part of the far-right Proud Boys group.
Jeffrey Perrine had rejected calls to resign from the committee after stating he was a member of Proud Boys in an interview with The Sacramento Bee in January. Sacramento Republicans said Perrine had earlier denied being part of the local Proud Boys faction.
"I've been a member, but I'm not a head or an officer of any kind in any organization," Perrine told the newspaper. "Yeah, I'm still with the Proud Boys. I'm just a member. I'm a part of a fraternity."
Perrine also defended a 2018 video taken in Portland, Oregon, in which he said "all the illegals [undocumented immigrants] trying to jump over our border, we should be smashing their heads into the concrete."
On February 17, the Sacramento GOP committee voted to expel Perrine because of his desire to remain a member of the Proud Boys and his "views and actions being categorically inconsistent" with the values of the Republican Party.
"The Committee took this action very seriously," Committee Chair Betsy Mahan said in a statement. "We had to give consideration to the impact of Mr. Perrine's behavior on our Party during a volatile time in our country's history."
Treasurer Micah Grant added: "Mr. Perrine's beliefs, actions, and public statements are woefully out of touch with true conservative values and were a slap in the face to Republicans everywhere who are deeply embedded in their communities. I'm proud the committee took the necessary action to remove this individual."
The committee also formally denounced all groups that call for "hate or violence against government officials, buildings, law enforcement, places of business and worship, or neighborhoods."
In a previous interview with Newsweek, Perrine said he had no intention to resign from the GOP committee.
"We have all made mistakes, are we not allowed to grow and move past them? Illegals are not a race of people," he said.
"I feel the people who call me racist, are really the bigots. They are the ones assuming I am only speaking about Mexicans. I feel all illegal immigration is harmful. I never selected a specific race. I love all races and creeds. It's all about ideology for me. Not skin color," he added.
The Proud Boys, whose members were part of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, are listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Canada has also officially listed it as a terrorist organization.
