Players and other team personnel from Purdue, Tennessee, Creighton, and Gonzaga arrived Wednesday in Detroit to continue their March Madness run, which caused confusion for one state official.
Republican state Rep. Matt Maddock believed the players arriving in Michigan and leaving Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport on buses escorted by police were illegal immigrants. The basketball teams were off to their hotels before the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games tip off in the city.
"Happening right now," Maddock wrote Wednesday night on X . "Three buses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort?"
Michigan GOP Chairman Pete Hoekstra retweeted his post.
When corrected and told the buses were for players getting off the plane, Maddock responded “Sure kommie. Good talking point.”
The Wayne County Airport Authority confirmed the planes and buses were being used by NCAA teams. Players being bused from planes to hotels or arenas is standard practice.
"The four men’s basketball teams competing in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 at Little Caesars Arena arrived at DTW Wednesday evening," according to the Wayne County Airport Authority. "The buses seen in a photograph circulating online were transporting the basketball teams and their respective staffs."
A reporter with Detroit’s WXYZ, ABC 7, also confirmed with Allegiant Airlines that the planes were filled with players arriving for the tournament.
“Just to be clear, this was the Gonzaga basketball team,” Maxwell White wrote on X . “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.”
Michigan Democrats also spoke out against Maddock’s post.
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“A sitting State Representative sees a group of busses at the airport and immediately yells 'illegal invaders' which is a pretty rude (and also, frankly, dangerous) way to greet the Gonzaga Men’s Basketball Team arriving for March Madness,” Michigan State Senate Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow said on X .
Maddock's office did not respond to the Washington Examiner's request for comment.
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