Racist House Republican Uses Boston Bombing As an Excuse to Kill Immigration Reform

Last updated on April 19th, 2013 at 07:00 pm

Tea Party Republican Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is trying to exploit the bombings in Boston to kill immigration reform.

According to National Review,

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“Some of the speculation that has come out is that yes, it was a foreign national and, speculating here, that it was potentially a person on a student visa,” King says. “If that’s the case, then we need to take a look at the big picture.”

On immigration, King says national security should be the focus now, and any talk about a path to legalization should be put on hold.

“We need to be ever vigilant,” he says. “We need to go far deeper into our border crossings. . . . We need to take a look at the visa-waiver program and wonder what we’re doing. If we can’t background-check people that are coming from Saudi Arabia, how do we think we are going to background check the 11 to 20 million people that are here from who knows where?”

It should be noted that the person from Saudi Arabia that Rep. King referred to in his comments is not a suspect, and there has been no official confirmation or evidence that the attack came from from a foreign national.

Rep. King has a long history of racism and bigotry. In 2010, King said that he had no problem with tea party protesters who shouted ni**er and fa**ot at members of Congress. That same year Rep. King said that President Obama, “has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race, on the side that favors the black person.” King has also called the President of the United States, “very, very urban,” and that Muslim extremists have infiltrated the Justice Department.

King went for the bigot’s daily double by trying to link the Boston bombings to immigration reform. He attacked both both Hispanics and Muslims in a single swoop. The anti-immigrant right is desperate to stop immigration reform and they will use anything, including baseless bigoted speculation about the Boston Bombings to accomplish their goal.

Rep. King exhibits vile racism every chance he gets. He is also part of the crowd that thinks Obama is going to blame them for the Boston bombings. King demonstrated just how low some Republicans are willing to go in order to carry out an agenda that is based on racism, bigotry, and hate.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association