A middle-school principal in Texas has been placed on administrative leave for reportedly commenting on Facebook that “illegal aliens” will make the country “dirty.” (Photo: Getty Images)

An 8th-grade principal who reportedly called undocumented immigrants “illegal aliens” poised to make the United States a “dirty country” has been placed on leave by the school district.

“We were made aware of the post on Friday. We do not support or condone his actions or comments. He was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the incident,” Sheila Adams, a spokesperson for the Lufkin Independent School District in Texas, tells Yahoo Lifestyle in an email.

Principal William Dugat of Lufkin Middle School apparently wrote the discriminatory comments on Facebook in regard to a photo of Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke, who is running for Senate, according to news station KTRE, which published a screenshot of the deleted message.

“I care about his stance on the issues, especially universal health care because there are so many people that go without basic care and the environment because I worry about my children and grandchildren having clean water to drink,” Facebook user Zoie Lovejoy wrote about O’Rourke. “Those are my priorities, I know they may be different from yours but that’s okay because we are both mature adults and can disagree on the issues but still be civil to each other.”

Dugat reportedly responded, “I worry about the USA looking like Mexico and South America with so many illegal aliens being welcomed to our country. Guess we are doomed to have a dirty country either way.”

The reaction on Facebook has mostly been that Dugat has a right to exercise “free speech” and the Lufkin school district should be “ashamed” of itself for disciplining the principal.

Photo: Facebook/KTRE

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