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PRESCOTT, ARIZ. -- Months after facing national backlash for his YouTube video about the Holocaust and gun control, Joe the Plumber is making headlines again for statements about illegal immigration.

According to the Associated Press, Ohio Republican congressional candidate Samuel Wurzelbacher (aka Joe the Plumber) said that the U.S. needs to build a fence at the Mexico border and "start shooting" at suspected illegal immigrants during a fundraising event for Arizona state Sen. Lori Klein in Prescott, Ariz.

"We're afraid to say anything because we are afraid someone will report it on the 5 o'clock news," Wurzelbacher said. "For years, I've said put a damned fence on the border going to Mexico and start shooting. I am running for Congress and that should be a bad thing to say. You know what? It's how I feel. I am not going to hide it because I am running for an office. I want my borders protected and I am very, very adamant about that."

The Plain Dealer reports the Arizona Democratic Party has denounced the remark, saying it was "another black eye for Arizona." Klein told the AP that Wurzelbacher was kidding.

Wurzelbacher will face off against Democratic incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur for the 9th Congressional district in November.