House Democrats Want Steve King Off Judiciary Committee

House Democrats have launched a campaign against Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa to remove him from the House Judiciary Committee for comments he made about drug smugglers during a recent Newsmax interview.

Politico reports that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is demanding that House Speaker John Boehner kick King off the panel for suggesting that some children of illegal immigrants were drug smugglers.

In the Newsmax interview, King differentiated between the so-called "dreamers" who were brought into the country illegally by their parents, and other illegal immigrants who enter the country to smuggle drugs.

"Some of them are valedictorians — and their parents brought them in. It wasn't their fault. It's true in some cases, but they aren't all valedictorians," King said in the July 18 interview.

"They weren't all brought in by their parents," King said. "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.

Democrats are sending a petition to fellow party members that will be presented to Boehner and states that King has "crossed the line" with "ugly, hateful language that has no place in our debate about immigration."

"If Speaker Boehner and House Republicans truly want to condemn Congressman King’s views, it’s time for them to remove him from his positions of authority on the immigration subcommittee and Judiciary Committee," said the message from the Democratic committee.

The original interview focused on King's reaction to Republican activist Grover Norquist's criticism of the lawmaker as "anti-immigrant." King opposes the Senate-passed immigration reform bill because he said it would give 11 million illegals residing in the U.S. amnesty, including those accused of committing misdemeanor crimes.

Some Republican leaders have already distanced themselves from King's comments, including Boehner and Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia.

"What he said is wrong," said Boehner of Ohio. "There can be honest disagreements about policy without using hateful language. Everyone needs to remember that."

Added Cantor: "I strongly disagree with his characterization of the children of immigrants and find the comments inexcusable."