Republicans know they have a Rep. Steve King (R-IA) problem.

Not only is the congressman known for saying vile things about immigrants, his policy proposals — like deporting young people who would be eligible for the DREAM Act — are being embraced by his fellow House Republicans.

Last weekend, he refused to apologize to the “Walter Cronkite of Hispanic media” for comparing immigrants to dogs.

While the Hispanic media noticed, this wasn’t enough to catch the mainstream press’ attention. But now King may have been caught saying the sort of thing that could turn immigration reform into a nightmare for Republicans.

“Some of them are valedictorians, and their parents brought them in,” King told Newsmax last week. “It wasn’t their fault. It’s true in some cases, but they aren’t all valedictorians. They weren’t all brought in by their parents.”

“For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert,” he said. “Those people would be legalized with the same act.”

You can watch the video above. These comments come at about the six-minute mark.

Wow. That’s specific. Calves the size of cantaloupes.

House Republicans can get away with not passing reform because they mostly do not depend on Latinos for re-election.

However, the next president of the United States will have to do better than Mitt Romney at appealing to these voters or the chances of a Republican ever winning the White House Again are slim.

(h/t Talking Points Memo)