WASHINGTON —
Rep. Steve King doubled down Monday on comments he made over the weekend in which he appeared to criticize foreigners and immigrants, drawing complaints of insensitivity on social media and from some of his Hill colleagues.
King, a powerful Iowa Republican and a vocal advocate against illegal immigration, tweeted Sunday, “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”
Asked by CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day” to clarify his comments, King said he “meant exactly what I said.”
“You cannot rebuild your civilization with somebody else’s babies. You’ve got to keep your birth rate up, and that you need to teach your children your values,” King said, paraphrasing remarks he said he’s delivered to audiences in Europe. “In doing so, you can grow your population, you can strengthen your culture, and you can strengthen your way of life.”
King said he’d like to see less of an emphasis on race in the future, idealizing an “America that is just so homogenous that we look a lot the same.” He said that was possible thanks to trends in inter-marriage.
King, who was expressing support in his original tweet for far-right Dutch candidate Geert Wilders, predicted that “Europe will be entirely transformed within a half-century.”
King has long been concerned about the decline of “American culture,” and said he merely wished to see immigrants better assimilate into the United States. Pressed whether he saw all Americans as equal, the Iowa congressman said their backgrounds mattered.
“I’m a champion for Western civilization,” King said, adding that all people do not contribute to American society equally. “They contribute differently to our culture and civilization.”
King said differences had nothing to do with their humanity, but their backgrounds: “It’s the culture, not the blood. If you could go anywhere in the world and adopt these little babies and put them into households that were already assimilated into America, those babies will grow up as American as any other baby.”
Monday’s comments from King could invite a new round from scorn from liberals and immigrant groups. After his supportive statement for Wilders, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu, who is Asian-American, tweeted a photo of his two children.
“Dear Representative Steve King: These are my two babies. –Representative Ted Lieu,” he said.
One notable rebuke came from a fellow Republican congressman, Carlos Curbelo, who is Hispanic.
“.@SteveKingIA What exactly do you mean? Do I qualify as ‘somebody else’s baby?’ #concernedGOPcolleague,” he tweeted.
And Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican, tweeted: “Get a clue, @SteveKingIA. Diversity is our strength. All looking alike is such a waste. A travesty. I wanna be me. All others are taken.”
