During a CNN appearance on Monday night, immigration hardliner Rep. Steve King (R-IA) suggested that undocumented immigrants who received protection from deportation under Obama-era programs for people who were brought to the U.S. as young children should snitch on their parents in exchange for amnesty.

After host Chris Cuomo pointed out that about 95 percent of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are either in school or working, King argued that’s not enough, saying, “I want them to respect the rule of law… either they or their parents didn’t respect the rule of law.”

Cuomo pushed back, asking King, “they’re just supposed to turn themselves in 10 years later when they realize how they got here? You think that is what America’s about, congressman?”

King responded by suggesting he thinks DACA recipients should indeed turn in their parents.

“What about their parents then?” King said. “If it was against their will, then it had to be their parents who are responsible, and I’m still waiting for the first DACA recipient to say so and sign an affidavit that says, ‘I didn’t really do this on my own accord, my parents brought me in, they should have the law enforced against them, give me amnesty.’ I’m not hearing that from the DACA people.”

King was ostensibly brought on the show to defend President Trump’s pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court after he refused a federal judge’s order to stop profiling undocumented immigrants.


King has previously said he thinks there are “awfully bad people” among immigrants protected from deportation under DACA, and has publicly celebrated their deportations under Trump.

Axios reported last week that Trump “is seriously considering ending DACA,” a program that currently protects more than 750,000 people from deportation.