Illegal immigrants like ‘messy, mean raccoons,’ deputy mayor says

MENDHAM TOWNSHIP — The township's deputy mayor has apologized for his Facebook comments that compared illegal immigration to an infestation of "rabid, messy, mean raccoons" — an attempt to explain why many voters backed President Donald Trump.

"You call the city, four different exterminators, but nobody can handle the job," Rick Blood, who is also director of nearby Roxbury Township's Public Works, posted on Facebook.  "But there is this one guy and he guarantees you to get rid of them so you hire him. You don't care if he's an alcoholic, you care how many times he's been married, you don't care if he voted for Obama, you don't care if he has a plumber's crack, you simply want those raccoons gone! You want your problem fixed! He the guy. He's the best. Period."

He wrote that the "illegals are everywhere. We want it all fixed."

The core of the post — the story about coming home to a raccoon infestation — wasn't original to Blood's post. Versions of it have circulated on Facebook for years.

Trump's battles with Rosie O'Donnell and Megyn Kelly don't matter, the post said. Nor do his changing positions on issues, it said. But what does: "Trump is the only guy who seems to understand what people want."

The last sentence of Blood's post, which is no longer on his Facebook page, reads "the raccoons have got to go."

Blood told told the Daily Record he watched the negative comments come in and yanked the post on Sunday night.

He apologized for the post in a second post, and said the intent of his post was to show that executive orders and one-party solutions are not long-term solutions to any issue.

The Repubican, who also serves on the Township Committee, told the newspaper he expects a "firestorm" of comments at Monday night's Mendham Township meeting.  The township is also home of former Gov. Chris Christie.

"There are many hard decisions to made, and whichever group thinks they have the answer, there is no answer until all sides sit down at the same table. And all the hot air created by each end of the spectrum doesn’t get anything done," he wrote in his later post.

The director of Roxbury Township's Public Works did return to immigration issue in his post, calling it a "problem of our collective making" going back to the Reagan administration.

"Like it or not the President and Congress must reach an agreement on the entire immigration issue from the Dreamers to immigration to preventing future undocumented people from obtaining employment," he wrote.

A statement from the Morris County Democratic Committee called Blood's post an example of "bigotry and hatred ... particularly when coming from someone who has been trusted with representing thousands of people – people who believe that human beings, no matter who they are, should never be dehumanized."

It said only describing his original post as “offensive to some” and only apologizing for "fanning the flames” disqualify Blood from leadership.

"The best thing for him and for the citizens of Mendham Township would be for him to resign immediately. Nobody who has such disregard for the humanity of others should remain in elected office," the Democratic committee wrote.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ