WATCH: Steve King predicts next immigration wave will come from East Africa

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), one of the most stringent opponents of illegal and legal immigration in Congress, predicted Wednesday that the next wave of immigrants to come to the United States will be from East Africa.

King cited birth rates in making his argument, stating that lower birth rates in Mexico and Central American and higher birth rates in East Africa mean more immigrants will eventually come from those countries.

He explicitly said immigrants who serve as farm workers in the United States will come from East Africa.

“When you look at the total fertility rate in the world, you see places like Somalia, with more than six babies per woman, Niger with over seven babies per woman, where’s the labor coming from to work in the packing plants in America?” he said.

King said that 10 years ago, he had been in Mexico for a meeting with government officials and had been told that the U.S. would need to rely on other countries for labor.

He quoted a Cabinet member as telling him: “You won’t get cheap labor out of Mexico much longer because our total fertility rate is going down in Mexico and it’s going down in Central America.”

King also said he opposed a GOP immigration bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) that would provide some protections for people covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA allowed immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children to work and go to school without fear of deportation.

It also includes tough border security provisions, immigration enforcement measures and changes to legal immigration programs that have left it with no Democratic support.

But King said he’s “in no hurry for the Goodlatte bill to come to the floor” because it has two components of amnesty.

Click the video above to hear King in his own words.