The Republican deputy mayor of ex-Gov. Chris Christie's hometown is apologizing for a Facebook post comparing undocumented immigrants to raccoons in a basement and lauding President Trump as the exterminator.

Mendham Township Deputy Mayor Rick Blood, who is also the public works director in Roxbury, said he did not write the eight-paragraph screed but copied it from someone else, whom he declined to identify, before posting it to his Facebook page on Sunday morning.

Versions of the post have circulated among Trump supporters for more than two years and mirror remarks in April 2016 by Carl Paladino, who co-chaired Trump's campaign in New York.

Blood, contacted Monday, said he removed it Sunday night after receiving complaints and posted an apology.

"My position is that immigration needs to be fixed," said Blood, adding that he was trying to explain why Trump's supporters, such as himself, support the president.

"We need them at all levels of society -- from farm workers to technology people. We need to do this is an orderly fashion," Blood said of immigrants.

The lone Democrat on the Mendham Township Committee, Amalia Duarte, was not accepting of Blood's explanation and denounced his "divisive, dehumanizing rhetoric" on Monday.

"It's un-excusable to publish that post, whether or not it's cut and pasted ... that compares immigrants to raccoons in the basement," said Duarte, whose parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic.

Blood was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Mendham Township Committee in December, one month after losing a race for a open seat to Duarte -- the first time in memory that a Democrat was elected in the Republican-dominated municipality in Morris County.

In January, he was named deputy mayor of Mendham Township, whose 6,000 residents include Christie.

Blood, in his followup post, offered an apology and said his intent "was to illustrate, however poorly, one of the reasons our President was elected.

In an interview, Blood said he does not believe undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as young children should be deported, though Trump terminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in September and Congress failed to reach an agreement in the budget deal reached Friday.

"They did everything except pass through the maternity ward," Blood said.

Blood said his grandparents immigrated from Ireland and arrived via Ellis Island.

Duarte, further addressing his post, said, "What makes this country great is the diversity of our nation."

"This fallacy that people have always come through here by proper channels is incorrect. It's incredibly disappointing that our deputy mayor doesn't get it," Duarte said.

Blood is serving a one-year term on the committee.

"I'll be running again this spring, if I survive this mess," Blood said.

Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook