Texas congressman Charlie Gonzalez, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is seething about a Kansas legislator's comment suggesting that sharpshooters be used to control illegal immigration.
Kansas state Rep. Virgil Peck, a Republican, made the comment Monday as state lawmakers debated whether to use helicopter-borne gunmen to address a problem with wild pigs.
"Looks like to me, if shooting these immigrating feral hogs works, maybe we have found a [solution] to our illegal immigration problem," Peck said, quoted in The Wichita Eagle.Jest or not, he dug in, refusing to apologize and saying his constituents are angry about illegal immigration and "I was just speaking like a southeast Kansas person." He predicted that complaints about his comment would quickly fade: "I think it's over."
Hardly.
Hispanic groups denounced him. Gov. Sam Brownback, a fellow Republican, called his comment "completely inappropriate." Under intense pressure, Peck issued a terse apology a few hours ago. "My statements yesterday were regrettable," he said. "Please accept my apology."
Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, said he'd read what Peck said "with utter dismay.... His comments were dehumanizing" and likely to hamper "a responsible debate about immigration" by inciting prejudice. "Speaking of human beings like animals and implying gun violence as an acceptable course of action crosses a line that his own party and his own peers should not tolerate," he said.
Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/shoot-illegals-like-wild-swine.html
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