Rep. Steve King Steven (Steve) Arnold KingTrump, Biden deadlocked in Iowa: poll GOP leader: 'There is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party' Loomer win creates bigger problem for House GOP MORE (R-Iowa) on Friday tweeted that a group of detained migrant children look like "prime MS-13 gang material."

King made the statement in response to lawyer Michael Avenatti's picture of a group of detained boys he said were being transported out of McAllen, Texas, on Thursday. Avenatti, the attorney representing adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE, said he did not know where the boys were being taken and that separating them from their parents was a "disgrace."

King said the boys look much older than children.

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“'Young boys' all old enough to be tried as adults or serve in the military and are prime MS-13 gang material & certainly grew up in the culture of one of the top 10 most violent countries in the world," King tweeted.

“Young boys” all old enough to be tried as adults or serve in the military and are prime MS-13 gang material & certainly grew up in the culture of one of the top 10 most violent countries in the world. https://t.co/r8Ur40tqhd — Steve King (@SteveKingIA) June 22, 2018

His tweet came two days after Trump signed an executive order ending the practice of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border. However, it remains unclear how the thousands of families that have already been divided will be reunited.

King has been criticized before for making comments opposed to diversity and immigration. His remarks on Friday came about a week after he retweeted a prominent British neo-Nazi.

“Europe is waking up...Will America...in time?” King wrote in a quote tweet of Mark Collett, former chairman of the youth division of the British National Party.

That tweet came in response to a a screenshot of a Breitbart article that said 65 percent "of Italians under the age of 35 now oppose mass immigration."