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Steve King defends drug mule claims

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...s=rss_politics

Quote:

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is defending comments he made last week that some undocumented high school students are drug smugglers.

Speaking against the DREAM Act or similar legislation that would give many illegal immigrants who came to the country as children legal status, King argued in an interview with Newsmax that many of the would-be beneficiaries are drug mules.

“It seems as though I have a few critics out there, but those who have been advocating for the DREAM Act have been trying to make it about valedictorians,” King said in an interview with Radio Iowa. “I don’t disagree that there are DREAMers that are valedictorians, but it also would legalize those that are smuggling drugs into the United States.”

In his original comments, King claimed that “for everyone 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.”

Republican leaders in the House condemned King’s comments. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called them “wrong” and “hateful.” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said they were “inexcusable.” During a House Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.) described King’s words as “beneath the dignity of this body.” Speaking a few moments later, King did not respond.