Politics

Congressman Says Sending Honduran Kids to Detroit is Bad Idea: Too Risky

July 30, 2014, 5:02 PM

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Rep. Steve King

Some aren't taking too kindly to remarks by Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King, who trashed Detroit.

King's remarks on Tuesday surfaced in the context of what to do with an influx of unaccompanied children from Central America, particularly those escaped from the dangers of Honduras.

David Shepardson of The Detroit News writes that King told reporters that Detroit isn't much better than Hondruas for the children, and argued that the only place more dangerous than the Motor City is Honduras. He went on to say that Detroit is even riskier than certain areas of Honduras.

“When you look at those countries and the homicide rates that they have, only Honduras has a higher violent death rate than Detroit,” King said in his speech. “If we are going to move kids out of Central America to the United States of America because they live in a violent society, we dare not send them to Detroit because we would be putting them in an environment that is more dangerous than the one they left.”

The News reports that U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, who's running for U.S. Senate, calls the remarks “outrageous.”

“I think it is absolutely outrageous that you still have someone who thinks it is OK to dump on Detroit. We’re making such great strides in the city. We’re going to see our best days ahead of us. I’m very confident of that — so to continue to have someone taking cheap shots is simply unacceptable,” Peters says.

Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence,who is running for Congress, issued a statement:

“I stand with the people of Detroit and good people everywhere who are repulsed by the comments of Congressman Steve King. Not only does the Congressman clearly not know Detroit, but his inflammatory statements do nothing to address the actual issue at hand: the need to strengthen our borders and pass comprehensive immigration reform.”


Read more:  The Detroit News


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