As people in the Netherlands prepare to head to the polls, an American politician has shown his support for far-right candidate Geert Wilders – and his tweet has created some controversy.

Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. https://t.co/4nxLipafWO — Steve King (@SteveKingIA) March 12, 2017

Republican representative to Iowa Steve King linked to this tweet from the Voice of Europe Twitter account, showing a cartoon of Wilders.

Hundreds of Islamists shouting "Allahu Akbar" in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Wilders is right for over 10 years. #turkijerel pic.twitter.com/dV2SjXg23r — Voice of Europe (@V_of_Europe) March 12, 2017

Wilders is a controversial character on the world stage, with some of his proposed policies including banning migration from Muslim countries and closing all Dutch mosques. Last month Wilders blamed “Moroccan scum” for street crime in the Netherlands, saying he wants to make the country “ours again”.

Many people were quick to condemn King’s tweet.

GOP Congressman @SteveKingIA promotes the un-American ideas of white nationalism. Will any Republican congressmen condemn his bigotry? https://t.co/5etQ8fwZx2 — Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) March 12, 2017

Clearly the Congressman does not view all our children as, well, all our children. Particularly ironic & painful on Purim. https://t.co/DSmU6hUhhz — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) March 12, 2017

2 questions for Congressman @SteveKingIA: 1) Whose civilization are you trying to “restore?” 2) Whose babies are getting in the way? https://t.co/sTwDk3faT1 — Mo Elleithee (@MoElleithee) March 12, 2017

Matters weren’t helped by the fact that the former leader of the KKK, David Duke, tweeted his support of King.

Indicative of a bitterly divided America, not everyone was outraged by King’s remarks.

Rep. King's comment is a rare show of real courage from a conservative. I'm pleasantly surprised. There is hope. Keep praying #MAGA fam. https://t.co/LzksLi3fan — John Gibbs (@realJohnGibbs) March 12, 2017

This is not the first time King has shown his support for the rise of far-right politicians in Europe. He has previously met with French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

US Congressmen King & Rohrabacher pay a visit to discuss Liberty & shared values w/(next president of France?) Marine Le Pen @MLP_officiel pic.twitter.com/UZEp8vWPNz — Steve King (@SteveKingIA) February 13, 2017

It is also by no means the first time that King has been accused of xenophobia.

Last year, King came under fire for suggesting that “white people” had made the most contributions to civilisation: “I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you are talking about? Where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilisation?”

He later said he meant to say “Western civilisation” rather than “white people”.

King’s record shows him to be staunchly anti-immigration. In 2013 he again courted controversy by saying to conservative site Newsmax: “For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another hundred out there who weigh 130 pounds — and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”