House immigration Hawk Steve King, R-Iowa, argued in a colorful interview that the nation’s unauthorized immigrants should not be legalized because some of them are drug mules.King said in an interview last week with Newsmax that he does not buy the argument that unauthorized immigrants are often stellar students who were brought to the country illegally through no fault of their own.
“It’s true in some cases,” he said. “But for every one who is a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they have calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”King added, “Those people would be legalized with the same act.”The tea party conservative said he doesn’t believe it’s possible to distinguish between immigrants who are criminals and those who are not, so he will not accept an immigration reform bill that legalizes anyone. (Studies suggest that first generation immigrants, regardless of their legal status, are less likely to commit crimes than third generation Americans.)
Anyone can make nasty, stereotypical remarks. Can this idiot not distinguish between criminals and families who want a better life?
So much for the big tent concept. Plenty of children of illegal immigrants go on to do well in school. In fact, just go to any graduation in Prince William County and watch the success. Those with high school educations have the power. The only brick on their heads is the ones WE have arbitrarily placed there. Many of our kids are in limbo. they cannot persue higher education past an associates degree. How long before our nativist General Assembly makes it impossible for them to even go to community college.
An educated population is a prosperous population.
Prejudiced Republicans like Rep. King will do nothing to bring hispanics to vote for the GOP regardless of the size of their calves.
King is from Iowa. Perhaps he should get the Mr. Potato-Head award.
Corn head.
I hear that many Republicans are having their umbilicus replaced with a small clear glass dome because they have their head so far up their butt, it is the only way they can see anything. Of course it still gives them a very limited view of the world.
Unfortunately, drug runners and other criminal elements make the news and in doing so etch a stereotype in the minds of some.
Valedictorians and other ‘good guys’ who contribute to society rarely make the news.
Rep. King is a real AH. He does his party a disservice. I know many fine people from the very community King disparages. In fact, I know far more decent immigrants than I know of scum bags. My good guys just don’t make the news.
King may be an AH, but his views are fairly mainstream among the GOP as judged by their positioning on immigration. Just like Bob Akin, King is only different because he has the guts (or stupidity) to say what he thinks.
A huge problem with the immigration discussion, whether it’s some local dunderhead trying to inflame the community, or national politicians, is that you don’t have to scratch much beyond the very molecular surface layer of trying to keep it on the up-and-up before you run into these ugly, nasty demons of ethnic stereotypes, xenophobia, and a smelly assortment of base motivations. Immigration, whether in the United States or elsewhere is a management issue, pure and simple. There will always be a tendency for people to migrate from lower economic and/or lower personal freedom areas toward more prosperous, democratic areas. That ineluctable tendency has benefits and creates burdens for the receiving country. Managing the benefit/burden mix is the legitimate chore of a national government. If smart, the receiving country can come our very well on the benefit side of the equation, as has the United States over the course of its history. There is always some degree of resentment from those already “in the boat”, but that has to be managed too, through education. It takes a certain substantial degree of ignorance, especially in a country like the United States, not to see how much we benefit from immigration.
I do get concerned, however, that once the kind of talk that this fool, Mr. King, is flinging about gets engrained in the political zeitgeist, one loses the ability to intelligently manage the issue for the continuing benefit of the nation. He said this because he talks to a lot of people who say this kind of thing, and it quickly loses its objectively outrageous, lunatic quality. If, to get votes, one gets reckless with characterizations, gets free and loose about type-casting immigrants, gets careless with the economic facts, gives in too hate-flamed hysteria that wings around the electronic media we are so blessed with these days, it’s hard to get all the people who get riled up on the subject to climb down off their looney ledges. Watching the House Republicans try to wash off the grime of past posturing on this issue (and some don’t want to wash it off at all), is an unbecoming sight, indeed.
VERY well said, Scout!!
Scumbag
I beg your pardon? Could you draw that out a bit SF?