Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, compared immigrants to dogs at a town hall meeting on Monday, saying that the United States should pick the best immigrants the way one chooses the “pick of the litter,” according to a story in Salon, which also carried a video clip of the incident.
King told constituents in Pocahontas, Iowa, that he’s owned lots of bird dogs over the years and advised, “You want a good bird dog? You want one that’s going to be aggressive? Pick the one that’s the friskiest … not the one that’s over there sleeping in the corner,” the online magazine reported.
“You get the pick of the litter and you got yourself a pretty good bird dog. Well, we’ve got the pick of every donor civilization on the planet,” King said. “We’ve got the vigor from the planet to come to America.” According to Salon, the liberal research group American Bridge captured the comments on video.
King, a conservative, is one of the most anti-illegal immigration members of Congress, and he is also known for his sometimes impolitic comments.
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