Senior Republican congressman Steve King has sparked a backlash on social media after tweeting his support for the Dutch anti-Islam politician, Geert Wilders.

"Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny," Mr King wrote on Twitter.

"We can't restore our civilisation with somebody else's babies," he added.

The US Republican Representative of Iowa is a strong advocate of putting a stop to birthright citizenship.

All children born in the US currently get citizenship under the constitution, including the children of families living in America illegally.

Mr King has pushed for radical reform of the interpretation of the 14th amendment of the US constitution so that it no longer gives the children of undocumented migrants the right to a US passport.

Mr King's comments in support of Mr Wilders on Sunday led to accusations that he was "openly peddling white nationalism".

His post was retweeted by the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, with the words "sanity reigns supreme".

Mr Duke later tweeted: "God bless Steve King."

But many were quick to denounce Mr King, including former US President Bill Clinton's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, who described the Republican's comments as "painful".

Speaking to the BBC's Adam Smith last year, Mr King said that "millions" of people were expected to enter the US "illegally and unlawfully" in the years to come, with "a birth rate that exceeds that of the American citizen by a factor of two or more".

"That their children would all be citizens would be beyond the pale of the imagination of the people who ratified the 14th amendment," he said.

Mr Wilders, whose populist Freedom Party is expected to do well in Dutch parliamentary elections later this month, has been under 24-hour police protection for more than a decade due to death threats.

He was found guilty of hate speech over his promise to reduce the number of Moroccans in the country last year but no penalty was imposed. 

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC News

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