Oregon Republican: Hungry Refugees Were "Harvesting People's Dogs and Cats"

In a series of comments on immigration at a candidates forum for people seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, Lane County Commissioner Faye Stewart suggested that hungry Vietnamese refugees in the Pacific Northwest had used pets for food.

"When they needed something to eat, they went to their natural ways of doing it by harvesting people’s dogs and cats, their pets," he said on video of the forum posted by the conservative website, The Daily Caller.

Stewart appears to have been addressing the larger issue of "their culture and their lifestyle didn't mix with ours."

He also suggested that some refugees had started fires in their apartments because they didn't know how to use the heating system.

Stewart argued that instead of bringing refugees to the United States, the U.S. should go help them in the countries where they live.

Patch has reached out to Stewart for comment and to see if he wanted to elaborate, This story will be updated when he responds.

He did tell Willamette Week that he regrets making the comment.

Stewart is one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Ron Wyden.