Here, I'll let 21st Century Know Nothing folk hero Steve King (R-Iowa) explain.
“There are kids that were brought into this country by their parents unknowing they were breaking the law. And they will say to me and others who defend the rule of law, ‘We have to do something about the 11 million. Some of them are valedictorians.’ Well, my answer to that is…it’s true in some cases, but they aren’t all valedictorians. They weren’t all brought in by their parents. For every one who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there who 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.”
King also said during the interview that there were people in his state who were advocating for immigration reform because they depended upon cheap, illegal labor. “What they really, of course, mean is amnesty,” he said, “and then they will tell me, ‘I need someone to gather my eggs,’ or ‘I need someone to harvest the hogs, I need somebody to milk my cows.’”
He continued, “These are arguments that get weighed in with all of this, but there are many businesses in the state and in the country that were developed and evolved into the business they are today because of the anticipation of having cheap, illegal labor standing there ready to take those jobs.”
This is not the first time King has shown public disdain for undocumented immigrants. Last month, he tweeted about “brazen self professed illegal aliens” at his Washington, D.C., office and, earlier this year, advocated for an electrified fence along the border between the U.S. and Mexico.
And of course, Rep. King also has a penchant for comparing immigrants to dogs. So there's that.
Occasionally, Congressional G-O-TEA "leaders" try to spin this away and find silly excuses for this extreme rhetoric. They fail to actually make it go away because they match this extreme rhetoric with extreme legislation (like the recent amendment to deport DREAMers that passed the house on a mostly party line vote).
But now, all of a sudden, we're supposed to believe them and their "KIDS Act". Earlier today, PLAN called BS on this nightmare for DREAMers and their families.
“We have a serious crisis with our broken immigration system, and instead of addressing it in a comprehensive manner, Congressman Joe Heck and his colleagues are offering a crumb to some DREAMers and deportation for the rest,” said Astrid Silva, immigration organizer with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and co-founder of DREAM Big Vegas, an organization of and for undocumented youth known as DREAMers.
Congressman Joe Heck and members of Congress proposing the so-called “KIDS” Act are some of the same politicians who killed the DREAM Act in 2010, opposed deferred action for DREAMers to prevent them from deportation in 2012, and then voted to defund that initiative. [...]
On Monday, United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation, came out against this thinly-veiled attempt by House leaders to give their party political cover on the issue of immigration without presenting any serious solutions. PLAN agrees with United We Dream and rejects any proposal that puts millions of Latinos, Asians, and immigrants into a permanent underclass or excludes them from a pathway to citizenship.
Silva said, “House Republicans like Congressman Heck have a choice before them: deliver a real solution on immigration and start to rebuild their political brand with the fastest growing demographic in the country, or step further and further away from mainstream America and the Latino and immigrant community with extreme proposals that fall short of a real, long-term solution. Voters want immigration reform with a path to citizenship. It would be a positive step forward for the economy and our country."
As usual, Rep. Joe Heck (R-Superficial) wants to look "moderate" while voting "tea party". So of course, he's jumping onto this bill to try to have it both ways.
And of course, he hasn't said a peep on Rep. Steve King's outlandish new comments. Because of course, what Rep. King says speaks to the 21st Century Know Nothing id. And he & other G-O-TEA politicians long ago decided to pander to that 21st Century Know Nothing id instead of challenging it.
Of course, House Republicans don't like to hear this. Why must immigrant rights activists "call names" and "be mean"? Never mind that they're not the ones calling immigrants "dogs" and refusing to pass legislation that already passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote last month. And they've yet to repudiate Steve King and his latest round of bigoted insani-TEA.
Could this be due to their fear of admitting they don't have the ego or super-ego to reign in their "TEA" tinged id?
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