NASHVILLE - A Republican lawmaker likened illegal immigrant births to rats multiplying while he was questioning state officials at a committee hearing.
Rep. Curry Todd had been asking Tuesday if the state-funded Cover Kids program checked citizenship before paying for health care. He was told that the federal government didn't allow it for prenatal care because any child born in the U.S. is a citizen.
Todd said that means the immigrants can "go out there like rats and multiply."
No other lawmakers on the state Fiscal Review Committee responded to the remarks. When contacted by The Associated Press on Wednesday, Todd said he was wrong to use that choice of words.
The Collierville Republican said using the term "anchor babies" probably would have been more palatable.
The term, considered derogatory by some, is a reference to children born to at least one illegal immigrant parent.
"I was actually wrong, and I admit when I'm wrong," Todd said.
However, he said the issue needs to be addressed.
"Something needs to be done where there are some checks and balances in the system, because the Tennessee taxpayers are footing the bill for this," said Todd. He has been trying to require proof of citizenship for participants in any state-run health programs.
Immigrant rights advocate Stephen Fotopulos, director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said Todd's remark before the committee is inexcusable.
"This kind of dehumanizing rhetoric is all too common on some talk radio shows, where hate sells and there's no accountability," Fotopulos said. "But there's absolutely no excuse for it to come out of the mouth of an elected official in Tennessee."
Todd's comment harkens back to one made by former Democratic Rep. Frank Buck who in 2004 used the derogatory term "wetback" twice in committee to describe illegal immigrants.
"I'm brash, but I'm not as bad as I may appear," Buck said at the time. "I didn't know that word was offensive."