Republican congressmen are now talking about throwing migrants from helicopters | Moustafa Bayoumi

Anti-migrant rhetoric has reached the point of a congressman citing a far-right meme about Augusto Pinochet's death-flights

Three years ago, the Intercept published an illuminating article about the rise of the Hoppean snake" among far-right extremists, a meme which the Intercept labelled especially disturbing for its frightening historical reference". For the uninitiated, the Hoppean Snake in its various forms usually depicts a serpent wearing the military hat of the American-backed Chilean dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet in the foreground while figures are dropping out of helicopters to their death in the background.

The meme specifically refers to Pinochet's known strategy of kidnapping, torturing, killing, and - here's the point - throwing his political opponents out of helicopters and into the ocean to dispose of them. The Intercept noted that many groups and individuals on the far right, such as the Boogaloo Bois, Proud Boys, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, armed Trumpists, and the like wear T-shirts that offer free helicopter rides'." and when they do so, they are referencing a program of extermination."

Moustafa Bayoumi is a Guardian US columnist