Steve King claims his 'math' proves immigrants can take over his district in 6 months

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) claimed in a town hall meeting on Tuesday that, according to his “math,” his congressional district was in danger of being overrun by immigrants in “six months.”

“I did the math on this,” King told voters attending the meeting. “How long will it take before an entire congressional district is supplanted by illegal aliens?”

King noted that his district — Iowa’s 4th Congressional District — has “about 755,000 people” and that when divided by the purported number of migrants entering the United States, “every 24 weeks an entire congressional district is supplanted by illegal aliens.”

“That’s two congressional seats a year” being supplanted, King reasoned, and then he extrapolated upon that number to further fearmonger.

“You could have 50 congressional seats replaced and supplanted by non-citizen, illegal aliens that have no lawful presence in the United States,” King said.

King also cited a “study” from the group Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which has been labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a designated hate group with “ties to white supremacist groups.”

According to King, the “study” proved that six congressional seats in California “wouldn’t exist if they didn’t have an illegal population.” King said those seats, representing “six electoral votes,” could play a significant role in presidential elections.

The rant echoed xenophobic rants and conspiracy theories that have circulated on the right, which have been picked up and amplified by figures like Trump and the mass shooter who attacked a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that an “invasion” at the southern border justifies racism and is a reason to back his efforts to erect a southern border wall.

“Nine months later, a 21-year-old white man is accused of opening fire in a Walmart in El Paso, killing 20 people and injuring dozens more after writing a manifesto railing against immigration and announcing that ‘this attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas,'” the New York Times reported days after the El Paso shooting.

From early in his presidency, Trump claimed that at least 3 million “illegal” votes led to him losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“Election officials and fact checkers have previously called out Trump’s baseless claims” that “millions of people voted illegally,” Politifact wrote. The website gave Trump its “Pants on Fire” rating for the lie.

King is a racist who has spent his time in Congress espousing white supremacist ideas and rhetoric. In January, he finally lost some of his congressional powers after arguing that “white nationalism” and “white supremacist” ideas were not offensive.

Before that rhetoric embarrassed Republican leaders, King had spent the previous decade and a half in the Republican Party’s good graces and received endorsements from key leaders like Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX).

King’s “math,” promoting fear about migrants, reflects what he has promoted for the bulk of his career.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.