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Congressman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) Compared Immigrants to Vagrants and Animals

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Jeff DuncanHouse Republican Jeff Duncan (SC) is just the latest in a long line of Republicans to say something horribly impolitic about immigrants, only to backtrack later. He readily joins the club as one of their most nonsensical members.

Earlier this week, Duncan described the US border as “like having a house…taking the door off the hinges and allowing any kind of vagrant or animal or just somebody that’s hungry, or somebody that wants to do your dishes for you, to come in.”

In the same sentence, Congressman Duncan manages to go from comparing immigrants to animals to poor people who are seeking economic opportunity to hard-working people who are willing to make the most of their time here by helping the most lazy of us do our chores.

It’s a little confusing, but I’m pretty sure he meant it as an insult.

According to the Huffington Post, the Congressman was taking part in a Q&A event with Furman University students to “talk about what their first year impression of Congress has been,” according to Professor Danielle Vincent. Her question to the Congressman was “When do you take an imperfect bill that’s compromise and when do you decide it will be better to wait, ” using the example of the 2007 immigration bill.

Despite saying something clearly and horribly offensive, he’s now on the defensive. (You can watch the video here.)  Here’s more from the Huffington Post:

Duncan’s camp was quick to clarify the remarks. Spokesman Allen Klump told Easley (S.C.) Patch that the freshman congressman’s statement was not intended to link undocumented immigrants to animals:

“Congressman Duncan was simply saying what South Carolinians already know, that securing our borders is just like securing our homes. A border with no fence is like a house with no doors, where anyone or anything can come and go as they please. Congressman Duncan believes we have to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws. As recently as two weeks ago, the Congressman introduced a bill pointing out the need to secure our Southern border from the terrorist threat coming from Iran.”

South Carolina, the Congressman’s home state, just this week became the new Alabama, passing an anti-immigrant bill comparable to the Arizona’s SB 1070. While the Alabama law is still the worst of the worst, South Carolina is proving that it’s all the same Juan Crow.