At a political forum on Wednesday, GOP congressional candidate Sery Kim falsely suggested that Chinese immigrants bring the coronavirus to the United States — and suggested that she opposes their entry to the country.

“I don’t want them here at all,” Kim, who is Korean American, told attendees, speaking of Chinese immigrants and China in general, the Dallas Morning News reported. “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.”

Kim, 42, also argued that a rising surge in violence and threats against Asian Americans has been trumped up by the media, saying that “Asians have always faced violence. It’s not worse than before.”

The comments left Kim, who served under Trump in the Small Business Administration, facing blowback from both supporters and opponents. Republican California Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel, who endorsed Kim in March, told CNN they had told her that the comments were wrong.