The hatred he and others in the group espoused met little resistance from its active members. In one part of the group chat, Cruz wrote that he hated, “jews, ni**ers, immigrants.”

He talked about killing Mexicans, keeping black people in chains and cutting their necks. The statements were not made in jest.

There are hundreds of racist messages, racist memes and racist Instagram videos posted in the group.

One member even joked about Cruz’s particular venomousness, saying that although he hated black people, too, he didn’t “to a point I wanna kill the (sic) like nick.”