The president of Texas Tech's interfraternity council has stepped down after his disparaging online statements about illegal immigrants came to light this week, including one post suggesting they be hunted for sport along the border.

Kyle Mitchell resigned Friday as university officials denounced the statements and vowed to conduct an investigation and take appropriate action, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported.

Mitchell apparently made the comments in a "Frat Chat" forum after writing, "Let's argue about immigration." The posts came to light Thursday.

"I'm telling you, build a wall," one post began, "and the us govt. can sell permits for legal hunting on the border and we can make a sport of this, can be a new tax revenue stream for the gov."

Late Thursday, the newspaper reported, Tech officials issued a response via email, characterizing the posts as "abhorrent and strongly condemned."

"These insensitive and racially charged messages do not reflect the core values of the institution," the statement said.

A separate statement from council executive vice president Ethan Louis Smith called the posts "reprehensible," saying such language "has no place ... within our organization, school or society."

Nissa Garcia, a senior at the school, posted a series of screenshots on Twitter of the since-deleted exchange that show it devolving into crude, racist and belittling remarks about African-Americans as well as unauthorized immigrants, including one student's unsettling comment claiming to have met ranchers "who kill illegals and burry them under cattle graves along the border."

In the exchange, Mitchell, whose handle is "The Cocaine Cowboy," suggests border crossers be hunted and says, "The us govt would be making money to stop illegals instead of spending it, win win for everyone."

In a later Twitter post addressed to the Tech community, Mitchell appears to take responsibility for his remarks, calling them egregious and lacking morality.

"I am deeply sorry, and want to extended my sincerest apologies to all those who have been hurt by my comments, both within and outside of the Texas Tech community," the post said. "I have resigned as the IFC President, because my comments do not reflect the values of the Texas Tech fraternities."

Matthew Gregory, Tech's dean of students, said officials will determine whether the comments violate Tech policy and look into whether such issues extend into the culture of the fraternity involved. Mitchell's social media accounts indicate he's a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon.

Carol A. Sumner, vice president of the school's division of diversity, equity and inclusion, said Mitchell may have thought he was making the offensive statements privately.

However, she said, "you are a student all the time," she told the Avalanche-Journal. "And the code of conduct and policies apply all the time."