On the August 4 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Michael Savage declared that “the Statue of Liberty” has been “raped and disheveled by illegal aliens.” Discussing the Italian government's decision to deploy soldiers on city streets to combat violent crime for which, according to The New York Times, “illegal immigrants are broadly blamed,” Savage stated: “Things are so bad in Europe that the Italians have put soldiers, military on their streets. Now, you have to understand what it means by things are so bad. The illegal immigrants, mainly Muslims and Africans, are out of control.” He then added: “So they've done there what we need to do here. We need to get our troops out of Iraq and put them on the streets of America to protect us from the scourge of illegal immigrants who are running rampant across America, killing our police for sport, raping, murdering like a scythe across America while the liberal psychos are telling us they come here to work.” Later in the program, Savage said "[t]he local comic books that nobody buys anymore called newspapers" are ignoring what is happening in Italy, and added: “No truth, no reality, no stories -- you turn on the cable news, they're covering again a missing child. Not a missing country but a missing child. ... We hear about the rape of a woman, but not about the rape of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is crying, she's been raped and disheveled -- raped and disheveled by illegal aliens, and our politicians do nothing except give themselves big fat checks and big fat jobs.”

As Media Matters for America has noted, Savage has previously made inflammatory remarks about immigrants. For instance, while criticizing first lady Laura Bush's June 20 World Refugee Day speech, Savage said, “We're getting refugees now who have never used a telephone, a toothbrush, or toilet paper. You're telling me they're going to assimilate? They will never assimilate. They come here and they bring their destitute ways to this country, and they never assimilate.” He continued: “And then their children become gang-bangers. It is a disaster. Did you hear what I just said? A disaster.”

When five San Francisco students held a hunger strike in July 2007 in support of the DREAM Act -- a bill that would have provided a pathway to citizenship and other benefits for certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before the age of 16 -- Savage said: “I would say, let them fast until they starve to death, then that solves the problem. Because then we won't have a problem about giving them green cards because they're illegal aliens; they don't belong here to begin with.” In April 2006, Savage stated, “If you take to the streets with the vermin who are trying to dictate to us how we should run America, even though they're not even entitled to vote or be here, you're going to be thrown out of office. The people will throw you out of office. There are not enough of them to re-elect you. You will be out of a job. You will not have a living. You will be hunting for a job. Maybe, you'll be picking the vegetables.” After Media Matters highlighted his comments, Savage claimed it was not illegal immigrants he was describing as “vermin” but, rather, “the leadership behind” the illegal immigrants, whom Savage described as “the communist Marxist bloc of International ANSWER" (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).

Talk Radio Network, which syndicates Savage's show, claims that Savage is heard on more than 350 radio stations. The Savage Nation reaches at least 8.25 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it one of the most listened-to talk radio shows in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show.

From the August 4 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:

SAVAGE: Things are so bad in Europe that the Italians have put soldiers, military on their streets. Now, you have to understand what it means by “things are so bad.” The illegal immigrants, mainly Muslims and Africans, are out of control. So they've done there what we need to do here. We need to get our troops out of Iraq and put them on the streets of America to protect us from the scourge of illegal immigrants who are running rampant across America, killing our police for sport, raping, murdering like a scythe across America while the liberal psychos are telling us they all come here to work.

The story says, “Soldiers on Italian streets -- hundreds of soldiers have fanned across Italy to help police fight crime. The soldiers also guard detention centers, processing illegal immigrants blamed by the government for much of Italy's crime. But a group of immigrants used the deployment as an opportunity to protest and draw attention to their conditions and delays in asylum requests.” They got the racket worked out pretty good, huh? First you break into a country, then you say “drop dead” if you don't give me citizenship. And then they spit in your face, then they beat up your police, and the police run away.

That's the country of Italy, the once-proud nation of Italy, the former Roman empire reduced to hiding behind the shuttered doors. And you're telling me you're going to Tuscany -- yeah, drink your chianti, eat your mortadella, Schmi -- Guido. Go eat your mortadella, Guido, tell me how wonderful Tuscany is. I hear these reports from people who come back. “Oh, I went to Tuscany, oh, I love Tuscany.” You sat there like a fat drunk, you didn't know what was going on around you there. Go buy yourself a condo in Tuscany. You have no idea what's going on because like in this country, you don't want to know what's going on, you've got your head in the sand. When guys like me, the Paul Reveres of our time, have to take the whole burden on our own back. Go ahead, go stuff your face with mortadella and drink your chianti and think the world is fine because you become an old drunk in an undershirt -- I'd like to say to them.

Why is it that the Italians called out the military? Why can't we call out the military and put 'em on the border with Mexico? Why can't we send the military into San Francisco to take control of the city before other innocent civilians are killed? Uh huh, why? You tell me why. You tell me why. San Jose, Dave, you're on The Savage Nation, go ahead, please, what's on your mind?

[...]

SAVAGE: So there it is, Italy, they're calling out the military, they called them out already in the streets, but you didn't read that yet, huh? Didn't make it to your local comic book? The local comic books that nobody buys anymore called newspapers because they provide you nothing but trash, day and night? No truth, no reality, no stories -- you turn on the cable news, they're covering again a missing child. Not a missing country but a missing child, every day about a missing child but not a missing country, every day about a missing child but no missing country.

Every -- about the rape of a woman, but not about the rape of the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is crying, she's been raped and disheveled -- raped and disheveled by illegal aliens, and our politicians do nothing except give themselves big fat checks and big fat jobs. The Statue of Liberty is disheveled and raped and she's crying, and she needs to be helped, but you turn on the cable news networks -- missing children, rape, rape, missing children, missing children, rape, rape, missing children, rape, missing children, missing children, rape.

How about missing country and the rape of a nation? Why don't they cover the real story? Why don't they tell the rest of us to get ready for what's coming in this country? That we have to protect ourselves because everybody else is ducking and hiding? They're hiding under their desks in Washington, they're hiding under their desks in the state capitals, they're hiding under their desks in the city capitals. And we have to fend for ourself because the government is not protecting us, don't you get it?