Hispanic-American groups in Kansas City are demanding Governor Blunt fire his chief of staff for making a remark they call racist and demeaning to immigrants.

Governor Blunt says Chief of Staff Ed Martin was just demonstrating the administration’s tough position on illegal workers when he made the remarks to the Missouri Housing Development Commission. The Coalition of Hispanic Organizations, made up of 18 groups and individuals, says Martin told the Development Commission every developer could, as he put it, "figure out who is illegal….there’s a bunch of Mexicans out there, some of them are probably not legal."

The President of the coalition, Rita Valenciano, says it is an outrage for Blunt’s Chief of Staff, speaking for the Governor, to say Mexican looking people are likely illegal immigrants. Blunt has told a news conference in St. Louis that Martin was responding to a developer he thought was making excuses.