Thread: Rep. Steve King won't apologize for immigrant remarks

By Sean Lengell | FEBRUARY 21, 2014 AT 5:20 AM
Washington Examiner


Rep. Steve King of Iowa speaks during a hearing to criticize a proposal from the Environmental...

Rep. Steve King has refused to apologize about comments he made last year that young illegal immigrants routinely smuggle drugs into the U.S. from Mexico, telling an Iowa newspaper the statement was "objectively true."

A nationwide firestorm erupted after the conservative Iowa Republican in July said that for every young immigrant who comes to the U.S. and becomes a valedictorian, “there’s another 100 out there that — they weigh 130 pounds, and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert” into the U.S.

King even drew sharp criticisms from fellow Republicans, with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio calling his remarks "offensive and wrong."

But in an interview with the Daily Reporter of Spencer that was posted on YouTube this week, King accused his critics of "calling [him] names" in lieu of having a serious conservation about immigration.

"They cannot make a point about anything I've said that was anything other than true," he told the newspaper. "I'll stand on the principles that I've laid out."

"Sometimes I've made a point for years and they weren't listening, so I found another way to get them to pay attention."

Regarding the blowback he got from Boehner and others in his party, King said he won't tone down his rhetoric despite intra-party pressure.

"What I've said is objectively true, and anytime that Republicans have criticized me — it's not because of what I said – it's because they disagree with my agenda," he told the newspaper. "When they start calling [me] names, they've lost the debate."

http://washingtonexaminer.com/rep.-s...rticle/2544373

Feds say teen recruits smuggling drugs across border - Latino

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by Tony Shin and Monica Garske, KNSD, San Diego, California
5:00 am on 11/23/2012

Federal agents in charge of monitoring drug smuggling along the U.S.-Mexico border say more and more teenagers are getting involved in the smuggling trade – and may even be at risk for recruitment.

According to federal agents, many suspected teen smugglers have been caught this year at the San Ysidro border trying to cross into the U.S. with drugs secretly taped to their bodies.

Agents say both American and Mexican children as young as 12 years old are being recruited by cartels as drug mules. And, these days, marijuana is no longer the drug of choice.

“It shocks me and saddens me that kids are getting involved. It doesn’t shock me that cartels will use whatever method they need,” said Jose Garcia, a deputy special agent for ICE Homeland Security Investigations.

Garcia says his agents have been focusing on teen drug smugglers since 2009.

RELATED: Border patrol tackles New Mexico’s last frontier

So far, Garcia says cartels have recruited kids outside schools, arcades and malls from the South Bay to Poway, and as far east as Mountain Empire.

Social media has also been used to entice potential teen smugglers.

“We’ve even had one recruited by someone they know on Facebook,” said Garcia.

The special agent says teens can carry as much as six kilos of drugs hidden under their clothing. The money they get if they make it across the border is minimal compared to the risk they take,

“The lowest [payment] is $50 and the highest we’ve heard is about $500. But the average is somewhere between $75 and $300,” explained Garcia.

The cartel recruiters tell the kids that because they are minors, they won’t get in serious trouble.

However, Garcia says that selling point is misleading.

“The truth is if they are arrested with narcotics, especially hard narcotics, they’re going to have two felonies on their record,” said Garcia.

RELATED: [VIDEO] New border crossing opens in California

Last year, a record 190 teens – ages 18 and under – were caught smuggling drugs along the San Diego County-Mexico border, according to federal investigators.

So far this year, the number is down to 128, but Garcia says there are still disturbing new trends.

While marijuana was once the main drug being smuggled by teenagers, now it’s meth.

Also, recruiters used to target mainly teenage boys, but now they’re targeting young girls.

“If you look at the way that some females are dressed, it’s hard to detect, they’re wearing skinny jeans and tight tops and they still manage to hide it on them so the untrained eye wouldn’t pick up on it,” explained Garcia.

To help combat the teen drug smuggling trend, agents have formed a special outreach program that travels from school to school, warning kids about the dangers of drug smuggling.

Agents also warn parents to be alert and aware of their teens’ cash flow. Agents say that if a child suddenly has a lot of money and parent don’t know where it came from, it could be a red flag.

http://nbclatino.com/2012/11/23/feds...across-border/

Boehner even told a Democratic Congressman, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), that King was an “asshole” for making the remarks, which Castro wrote about in a later magazine article.

Way to go Boehner, Castro is the LaRaza Unidos Congressman from Texas and his reconquista twin is the mayor of San Antonio and both of them advocate for illegal foreign nationals over US citizens. JMO

LIBERAL MEDIA DREDGES UP KING CONTROVERSY AGAIN

by MATTHEW BOYLE
22 Feb 2014

Like moths to a flame, liberal media outlets are all over the latest development in a Rep. Steve King (R-IA) controversy, even though the “news” is that King defended himself with virtually identical language to what he has used in the past.

In an interview with Spencer, Iowa's Daily Reporter published Feb. 19,King defended comments he made last summer that while some illegal aliens youths – the so-called DREAMer class – are valedictorians, others are involved in smuggling illegal drugs across the border.

“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,” King said then, adding, “Those people would be legalized with the same act.”

In his new interview, King said his original remarks were true.
“I'm not going to apologize,” King said yet again. “What I've said is objectively true, and any time that Republicans have criticized me, it's not because of what I said, it's because they disagree with my agenda.”

The story was picked up by the Huffington Post, Salon, Right Wing Watch, Talking Points Memo, Roll Call and Real Clear Politics despite that his remarks weren't substantively different from what he's said in the past.

In the Daily Reporter interview, King said “When they start calling names, they've lost the debate.”

In a July interview with Breitbart News in which he defended his comments, King said “You know when people attack you—in this business, when you’re in this business, you know that when people attack you, and they call you names, they’re diverting from the topic matter. You know they’ve lost the debate when they do that.”

When King made his remarks in the summer, amnesty proponents seized on the comments as an opportunity to try to paint King as unfair to immigrants.

After the comments, GOP leadership officials, ranging from House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to Speaker John Boehner to Majority Leader Eric Cantor joined with Democrats like White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to attack King for making that comment despite abundant evidence that some illegal alien youths are, in fact, engaged in drug smuggling.

Boehner even told a Democratic Congressman, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), that King was an “asshole” for making the remarks, which Castro wrote about in a later magazine article.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journal...-controversial

One comment at the link:
Maestro George Soros is directing the Grand Philharmonic Orchestra of American Media. He lightly taps his baton and they begin.

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