Tennessee State Rep. Won’t Aplogize for Calling Immigrants Rats

I’m not sure which is worse, the actual name calling or the refusal to apologize for it.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal has called for State Rep. Curry Todd to apologize to “the Hispanic community, and the citizens of Tennessee” for comments made during a legislative meeting. According to a Commercial Appeal editorial Todd “likened pregnant immigrants to breeding rats. His remarks came after being told that federal law requires the state to extend prenatal care to women regardless of their citizenship status because all children born in the United States are citizens.”

The State Rep. later said that his particular use of words was wrong, that he meant to say anchor babies. As if that makes it better!

My compliments to the Commercial Appeal editorial staff who made their position clear: “His choice of words and defiance regarding an apology is emblematic of the sometimes crude and xenophobic discourse too many conservatives have sunk to regarding the illegal immigration issue.”