Washington (CNN) A House hearing on immigration policy got heated Tuesday when a Democratic lawmaker attacked GOP Rep. Steve King for controversial comments he made about immigrants -- as King sat a few feet away.

Democratic Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez delivered a monologue about the need for comprehensive immigration reform, accusing his colleagues of not seeking solutions but rather engaging in "demonization."

As King, a Republican with a hard right wing view on immigration, sat listening a few seats away, Gutierrez paraphrased recent comments King made as his prime example.

King drew criticism including from colleagues in his own party when he tweeted earlier this month: "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies," linking to a tweet about a right-wing, anti-immigrant politician in the Netherlands.

He doubled down on the comments in an interview with CNN after, saying as a "champion for Western civilization" he recognizes that all people "contribute differently to our culture and civilization."

"You cannot rebuild your civilization with somebody else's babies. You've got to keep your birth rate up, and that you need to teach your children your values," King said.

"What we have here is people that say, 'How do we expect to restore Western civilization with other people's babies?' That's what we have members of Congress saying," Gutierrez said, as King sat with a straight face. "That's part of what goes on here, it's a demonization, it's 'other people's babies,' it's this constant -- which I have to say, this President's playing one big role in all of it."

King never reacted to Gutierrez's attack directly, but said that when Americans elected President Donald Trump, they also made clear their feelings on immigration policy.

"There was a complete and utter rebuttal, I'll call it a prebuttal, of Mr. Guiterrez's statement on November 8, when the American people went to the polls and said we want the law enforced and we want our streets safe," King said.

Gutierrez also tussled with the subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner multiple times as he delivered his remarks, including when he began to talk about the President's statements during the campaign calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals.

"The gentleman will comply with the rules and not cast aspersions on the President," Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, interjected.

"We have a President of the United States that said, I can bring up the YouTube video, that Mexicans are murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. Fact? Good," Gutierrez said, continuing.

"So it doesn't surprise me, the conversation we're having here. It's not looking for a solution, it's looking for demonization of a community to score political points," he continued.