AfD, Vox
mingle with ex-US Border Patrol chief, white nationalist leader at ‘remigration
summit’
Gregory
Bovino and Jared Taylor flew in to support activists once deemed too toxic even
by European far-right parties.
The United
States’ former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino was a VIP guest at the
tightly controlled event that also included elected officials from Spain's Vox
and Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD). | Marion Solletty/POLITICO
May 31,
2026 10:36 am CET
PORTO,
Portugal — European far-right activists who advocate the mass deportation of
immigrants and their descendants are getting a boost from the Trump
administration’s embrace of their key catchword: remigration.
Some 500
activists and influencers gathered south of Porto on Saturday to discuss the
concept, once a fringe term only whispered in far-right circles. The United
States’ former Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino and American white
nationalist Jared Taylor were VIP guests at the tightly controlled event,
which also included elected officials from Spain’s Vox and Germany’s
Alternative for Germany (AfD) parties.
Other
leading European far-right parties, most prominently France’s National Rally,
have avoided the term or rejected the policy as too extreme because it targets
migrants based on their ethnicity or religion. But U.S. President Donald
Trump’s use of the word and the American State Department’s pledge to create an office for remigration put wind in
the sails of longtime advocates of the policy in Europe.
“When the
word is acknowledged by the president of a major power … one can no longer say
that it is marginal,” Jean-Yves Le Gallou, a former MEP for the French far
right under Jean-Marie Le Pen, said at Saturday’s summit.
The
gathering took place in the coastal city of Figueira da Foz, 135 kilometers
south of Porto, and welcomed activists from all over Europe, the U.S. and
Canada.
“I am very
happy to come over and lend some expertise to the Europeans” to tackle “illegal
aliens destroying European culture,” said Bovino at an impromptu press
conference at the gate.
In an interview with a far-right website ahead of the
summit, Bovino — who didn’t wear his controversial coat — referenced Nazi Germany’s lead
general Erwin Rommel as an inspirational figure and offered his help to end
what he described as a “creeping horror,” echoing racist terms used by
far-right extremists to describe migrants.
“If there is
inspiration gained from the U.S. Border Patrol model and method, then fantastic,” added
the former Border Patrol chief, who was dismissed from his position after
agents under his command killed a 37-year-old nurse in Minneapolis.
Sellner’s
moment
The Porto
summit was co-organized by Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner, who
first came into the spotlight in 2024 after
holding a secretive meeting in Potsdam, Germany, where he discussed
the remigration concept with AfD politicians. News of the Potsdam gathering
triggered large-scale protests in Germany at the time, with many pointing to
parallels with early
plans for
the mass deportation of Jews during World War II.
Two years
later, a confident Sellner made himself
available to journalists for interviews at the remigration summit,
dwelling on concepts that he says are now going mainstream.
“We have a
very neurotic relationship to our own ethnicity, our own ethno-cultural
identity and I think we need to overcome that,” Sellner told reporters at the
summit, calling on Europeans to overcome their “guilt complex” and
“self-loathing” stemming from “post-war consensus.”
At least
three AfD politicians attended the event, including Kay Gottschalk, a member of
the Bundestag and one of the party’s cofounders. Gottschalk said he was there
“to listen” as “a visitor.” Lena Kotré, an AfD member and representative in the
Brandenburg state legislature, spoke on stage. Sven Tritschler, a member of the
North Rhine-Westphalia parliament, also was in attendance.
Vox MPs
Rocío de Meer and Carlos Quero featured on the summit’s speakers list. Activist
Sammy Woodhouse, a supporter of U.K. right-wing party Restore Britain, was also
among the speakers.
Tensions
emerged when reporters who had been accredited to cover the event were not
allowed in and instead were confined to the parking lot. At one point, a drone
buzzed over the press pack making repeated, aggressive moves toward a female
journalist there.
Queuing for
selfies
By contrast,
multiple right-wing influencers equipped with high-tech gear were welcomed
inside, with the summit’s social media channels boasting “enormous”
interest partly thanks to Bovino’s presence.
Among the
speakers were Dries Van Langenhove, a former Belgian MP twice convicted for
hate speech, and far-right Dutch activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a promoter of
the so-called great replacement conspiracy theory, according to which
mainstream and political elites are conspiring to bring in large numbers of
non-white migrants to replace white populations. The theory was referenced
in the
event’s promotional material.
Attendees
also queued to take selfies with Taylor, the U.S. white nationalist who is a
high-profile promoter of racialist ideology. “The United States influences
Europe more than the other way around,” Taylor said outside the venue. “But
among dissidents and identitarians,
at least, there is a great deal of interest in Europe.”
Organizers
and speakers whom POLITICO talked to at the venue all denied the accusations of
racism that hang over the movement.
“I don’t
consider myself a hateful person,” said Canadian activist Daniel Tyrie, who was
on one of the panels. “I don’t go around spitting on people of color because
they’re in my country.”
“I just
don’t think they belong here.”
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