Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is still defending incendiary comments he made on immigration last month, telling a local Iowa TV station Monday that his detractors are aiding those who smuggle drugs across the border.
“If I insulted anybody, it could have only been drug smugglers, just the drug smugglers, and I probably didn’t do an adequate job of insulting drug smugglers, but the people who want to disparage what I said and what they’re really doing is defending drug smugglers,” King told KTIV.
Last month the immigration hawk criticized legislation that would allow DREAMers–or kids who were brought to this country at a young age–a path to citizenship, arguing that “for everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
Despite near universal condemnation from both Republicans and Democrats, including a delivery of cantaloupes to his Washington office, King has repeatedly stood by his remarks. He’s also quietly planning meetings with GOP leaders and activists this month in South Carolina, an early 2016 presidential primary state.
