GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz has chosen Rep. Steve King, who has created controversy by comparing immigrants to drug mules and cattle, to serve as a national co-chair for his campaign.
King endorsed Cruz in November last year saying that Cruz is the “one man that stands out as the courageous conservative whom I believe can restore the soul of America.”
King is the representative for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District and the announcement comes weeks before the symbolically important Iowa Caucus, which kicks off the primary election season where both political parties begin the process of selecting their candidate for President.
King has caused controversy in the past for his comments about immigrants. In an interview with Newsmax in 2013, Steve King said that for every valedictorian DREAMer who has been brought to this country by his or her family, “…there’s another 100 out there who, they weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
After President Obama’s State of the Union speech last year, King tweeted an angry reaction to one of first lady Michelle Obama’s guests, DREAMer Ana Zamora. King’s tweet brought swift reaction from immigrant activists, such as Lorella Praeli, who is now Hillary Clinton’s Latino outreach director.
King once claimed in a tweet that he was as Hispanic as Julián Castro, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development long rumored to be on Hillary Clinton's short list of potential runningmates.
King’s appointment sends a strong signal to Republican voters about who will have a strong influence over his policies on immigration in the future. King also sits on the House Judiciary Committee and it's Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.
