Instead, he spoke broadly against any effort to change the country’s immigration system while Democrats controlled Washington and “amnesty” was on the table.
“I think what’s on course here … is we’ll just move this little sliver here because this one tugs at our heart,” King said. “It tugs at my heart, too. But … we have to uphold the rule of law.”
After the hearing, Gowdy, who chairs the Immigration and Border Security subcommittee, called King’s comments to Newsmax “reprehensible.”
Gowdy also took offense at King’s criticism during the hearing of the South Carolinian’s own comments about needing a permanent immigration law solution.
“Did you hear his five minutes?” Gowdy asked a scrum of reporters about King’s statement. ”He took one line from my opening statement about a remedy that lasts a lifetime and lectures me about the rule of law. I was a prosecutor for 15 years.”
When asked how Republicans, particularly those in leadership, can reach out to members like King and implore them to keep inflamatory rhetoric at bay, Gowdy said flatly, “You can’t.”
And while King has said he has the muscle to sink any piecemeal immigration bill, Gowdy scoffed.
“The number of people who have a Steve King precise ideology on immigration isn’t going to be sufficient to sink anything.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, tweeted his disapproval as well: “Such inflammatory and hateful comments are out of touch with reality and do nothing to fix our broken system.”
Steve is my congressman. I’ve known him for a couple of decades.
He and I have had a disagreement or two.
But on this issue, he is as stalwart as it comes. This is the hill he has proven again and a again that he is willing to die on.
Gowdy might want to quickly reconsider, because he’s going to find that the country is standing with Steve King, not him.