Thursday on CNN, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Donald Trump’s recent controversial comments on illegal immigrants are going to “kill” the Republican Party.

Graham said, “He said something that has brought people who are frustrated about the immigration stem to life, but he also said it in a way that’s going to kill my party. Here is the problem with the Republican party nationally. We are getting 27 percent of the Hispanic vote. We are getting less than 10 percent of the African-American vote and about 25 percent, 26 percent of the Asian vote. You’ll never convince me that we’ve gone from 44 percent of the Hispanic vote now do you to 27 percent if it were not for the rhetoric around the immigration debate. This is a moment for the party. When Donald Trump says, who has done many good things, he sponsors charities for Wounded Warriors, he’s given a lot of money away to good causes, but as a presidential candidate he said the following, that most illegal immigrants are rapists and drug dealers and there may be some among them that are good. That’s reinforcing a narrative within the Republican Party and the Hispanic community that is going to destroy our ability to win a presidential election. And the party needs to be clear about how we handle this.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN