In remarks on the Senate floor on Thursday, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) denounced in strong terms a series of incendiary remarks made by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) in which King characterized the majority of young undocumented immigrants as drug smugglers. Durbin called King's comments "mean" and "hateful." The following day, the Illinois Democrat and member of the Senate "Gang of Eight" that drafted that chamber's comprehensive immigration reform bill announced in tandem with the office of Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that the Democratic duo would hold a forum on immigration in King's congressional district. The Senators say that the event, set for August 2 in Ames, Iowa, will feature young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents as children.
King's comments last week on Newsmax unleashed a flood of criticism from both sides of the aisle. He had said of young undocumented immigrants, "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."
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House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called those remarks "hateful" and "deeply offensive and wrong." Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) added their own denunciations. But as Democrats try to rally support for a comprehensive approach to immigration reform -- as opposed to the piecemeal, single-issue bill approach House Republicans have said they will pursue -- Durbin and Harkin aren't going to let the remarks go.
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"It troubles me and it is heartbreaking to think that these DREAMers -- these young people who are simply asking for a chance to be part of the United States -- would be characterized as dope smugglers and drug smugglers," Durbin said in his floor remarks on Thursday. He urged King to meet some of the young undocumented people who he had referred to on Newsmax.
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"I am glad members of his own party have stepped up and branded these comments for what they are. What I have to say to him is, take a moment away from the media, meet some of these DREAMers, and hear their stories. Hear what they have been through, and hear about what they want to do with their lives for the future of the United States of America."
The event will take place during Congress's five-week August recess.
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