Rep. Steve King, a longtime immigration critic, caused a furor Tuesday when a video emerged of him saying many young illegal immigrants are drug mules.
“They aren’t all valedictorians. They weren’t all brought in by their parents,” Mr. King, an Iowa Republican, said of young undocumented immigrants, in an interview with Newsmax last week. “For every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that, they weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. Those people would be legalized with the same act.”
Mr. King’s comments drew a pointed and public backlash during a House immigration hearing Tuesday, where lawmakers were focused on how to deal with children brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents.
Rep. Joe Garcia, a Florida Democrat, denounced Mr. King’s comments as “offensive.” He said there are schools in his district that produce valedictorians who are undocumented immigrants.
“When members of this House use inflammatory language, use offensive language, it does not help the process,” Mr. Garcia said, just before quoting Mr. King’s comments. “It is beneath the dignity of this body and this country.”
So far the House hasn’t produced a bill on how to deal with young, undocumented immigrants and Tuesday’s hearing was designed to broadly explore the subject.
Read more at Washington Wire.
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