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.