Speaking at an immigration event in Omaha last Friday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) alleged that illegal immigrants were responsible for more deaths than the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The congressman recounted a conversation he had with a former INS agent named Mike Cutler at a congressional hearing last year. Cutler was the last in a line of people King claims to have asked the question, “How many Americans have died at the hands of [illegal immigrants] who made it into America?”
All of the respondents, King alleges, said “Yes, I am an expert witness, but I have no idea how many.”
All of the respondents, that is, except for Cutler, who Kings says answered “‘I don’t know the answer to that, but I can tell you it will be in multiples of the victims of September 11th.’”
“Three thousand times something,” King repeated, twice. “Three thousand times something, three thousand times X, is the magnitude of individual tragedies here in America.”
“Now that is a thing,” King continued. “When you think about the multiples of something like September 11th, or even of one grave here in Omaha.”
The grave to which he refers belongs to Louise Sollowin, who was murdered by a man believed by authorities to be an illegal immigrant. The event at which he made these statements was, in part, dedicated to her.
Watch the entire video of Rep. King’s statements below.
[image of Rep. Steve King via Flickr user Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons licensed]