'Illegal immigrants should be shot from helicopters like hogs': Storm over state lawmaker's immigration gaffe



A state legislator has been publicly rebuked after claiming that illegal immigrants should be treated like wild hogs - and shot by marksmen in helicopters.

Virgil Peck told the Kansas state House: ‘It looks like to me as if shooting these emigrating barrel hogs works, maybe we have found a solution to our illegal immigration problem’.

Several members of the audience and the House Appropriations Committee gasped and an appalled silence descended upon the chamber.

Hogs: State legislator Virgil Peck has caused controversy after 'joking' illegal immigrants should be hunted by helicopters like wild hog

Peck afterwards claimed he was joking and ‘just speaking like a southeast Kansas person’.

But the extraordinary outburst will likely stoke the immigration debate in a state where it has become a major issue.

Lawmakers are considering bills which would grant Kansas police similar powers to those in Arizona, where anybody can be stopped and searched if they look like an illegal immigrant.

Several other controversial bills are also designed to reduce immigration to the state.

Peck, the Republican representative for Tyro, made his comments in the House Appropriations Committee on state spending for controlling feral swine.

He claimed he was only joking and was voicing the concerns of his constituents and the poor government response.

But Republican Marc Rhoades, chair of committee, told him: ‘I know that the preface to your question was an attempt at humour, but I would ask that in the future you refrain from comments that could be deemed inappropriate’.

Hit: Snipers in helicopters have been suggested as a way of controlling the wild hog population in Kansas

Patrol: Mr Peck said he was just 'just speaking like a southeast Kansas person.'

According to the latest census figures Kansas saw its Hispanic population surge over the past decade.

The statistics show that the number of Hispanics in the state surged by 59% since 2000 and now represent more than one in every 10 residents.

Last year there were 300,042 Hispanic residents representing 10.5% of the Kansas population - the 2000 Census found there were 188,252 Hispanic residents, or just 7%.

Among the most notably affected was Crawford County in southeast Kansas where the count went from 910 Hispanic residents in 2000 to

1,762 in 2010, a 94% increase.

In the latest vote the most controversial of the House Bills was held up because lawmakers said it would be an ‘invitation to racial profiling’.

It would have required local police to check the legal status of those they suspect might be in the U.S. illegally.

Officers would also have to have demanded proof of citizenship for anyone seeking public assistance such as after an accident.

Three years ago, lawmakers proposed requiring all businesses to use the federal computer system to verify the citizenship of workers or face being fined. When agriculture groups and bosses complained the bill died.

Peck is unabashed about his views and on his website calls himself ‘Pro-Low Taxes, Pro-Life, Pro-Education, Pro-Business, Pro-Agriculture and Pro-2nd Amendment’.

Last month, another Kansas state legislator, Republican Connie O’Brien, had to apologise after referring to a college student as an illegal immigrant because of her 'olive complexion.'