This week, Biden is expected to roll out his amnesty plan with elected Democrats. Simultaneously, as a result of economic lockdowns spurred by the Chinese coronavirus crisis, about 17.1 million Americans are out of work but all of whom want full-time jobs.
Biden: 'The Vast Majority of People, the 11 Million Undocumented, They're Not Hispanics...'
(CNSNews.com) - President Joe Biden told a CNN-sponsored town hall Tuesday night that "yes," he wants a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
But in his long and winding response to illegal immigration, Biden kept the focus on asylum-seekers and refugees, not the hundreds of thousands of people crashing the Southwest border.
"Well, yes," Biden told CNN's Anderson Cooper, a pathway to citizenship would be essential in any bill that reaches his desk.
"There's a whole range of things that relate to immigration, including the whole idea how you deal with -- what confuses people is, you talk about refugees, you talk about undocumented, you talk about people who are seeking asylum, and you talk about people who are coming from the -- that are coming from camps around -- that are being held around the world," Biden said.
"And there are four different criteria for being able to come to the United States. The vast majority of the people, the 11 million undocumented, they're not Hispanics. They're people who came on a visa, who was able to buy a ticket to get on a plane, and didn't go home. They didn't come across the Rio Grande and swim across -- excuse me," Biden said, as he walked over to Anderson Cooper, violating social distancing.
"Sorry, that's the Irish in me," Biden joked, as he backed away.
But, all kidding aside, so -- so, there are a lot of things that relate. But I think that we can no longer -- look, you have heard -- I'm -- even if you're not involved in politics at all, you have probably heard me say this 1,000 times, and matter -- that everyone is entitled to be treated with decency, with dignity. Everyone is entitled to that. And we don't do that now, for the first time in American history.
If you're seeking asylum, meaning you're being persecuted, you're seeking asylum, you can't do it from the United States. You used to come, have an asylum officer determine whether or not you met the criteria, and send you back if you, in fact -- but you can't even do that. You've got to seek asylum from abroad.
Stand-alone refugee bill?
Turning away from the pressing problem of illegal immigration, Biden noted that the United States used to allow 125,000 refugees into the U.S. every year.
It was as high as 250,000. Trump cut it to 5,000," he said. "Come with me into Sierra Leone. Come with me into parts of Lebanon. Come with me around the world and see people piled up in camps, kids dying, no way out, refugees fleeing from persecution.
We, the United States, used to do our part. We were part of that. We're -- and you know, that's -- send me your huddled masses. Come on.
And so, I would, if you had a refugee bill by itself -- I'm not suggesting that, but I would -- there's things that I would deal by itself, but not at the expense of saying, I'm never going to do the other.
There is a reasonable path to citizenship. And it shows up. One of the reasons why we have been able to compete with the rest of the world so well is, most of our major competitors are xenophobic...
Tom Cotton, Mitt Romney Plan Will Boost U.S. Wages, Mandate E-Verify
Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) are teaming up to introduce legislation that will boost Americans’ wages while punishing employers for illegal hiring.
Cotton and Romney announced on Tuesday that their legislation will raise the federal minimum wage gradually, over time, by having it increase with inflation. The minimum wage has not been raised in any way since 2009, when the cost of living was 20 percent lower.
Simultaneously, the Cotton-Romney plan would drastically increase protections for the United States labor market by requiring all employers to use the E-Verify system that protects American jobs for Americans and legal immigrants — barring the employment of illegal aliens whom working class Americans are often forced to compete against.
“We have an obligation to protect our workers and fellow citizens,” Cotton wrote in a statement online. “This common-sense proposal will give millions of Americans the raise they deserve.”
Today, Americans have to compete against millions of illegal immigrants who take illegally low wages under the table.
We can fix this by requiring employers to verify the legal status of every worker so they can’t undercut Americans on the black market.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 16, 2021
Our proposal gradually raises the minimum wage without costing jobs and then sets it to increase automatically with inflation.
This minimum-wage increase will go into effect after the pandemic has ended and include protections for small businesses.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 16, 2021
Romney, who has been a proponent of mandatory E-Verify, said the legislation is about protecting the nation’s workforce from unfair foreign competition and an increased cost of living.
Congress hasn’t raised the minimum wage in more than a decade, leaving many Americans behind. Our proposal gradually raises the minimum wage without costing jobs, setting it to increase automatically with inflation, and requires employers to verify the legal status of workers.
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) February 16, 2021
For years, a wide majority of Americans have supported both gradual increases to the minimum wage and mandatory E-Verify to punish businesses for illegal hiring practices. In Florida, which voted twice for former President Trump, more than 60 percent of voters supported increasing the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by September 2026.
Mandatory E-Verify, likewise, has remained one of the most popular policy initiatives across racial, class, and party lines. Its biggest opponents have been the politically-connected donor class.
A weekly survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports shows that more than 7-in-10 likely voters agree that mandatory E-Verify should become law to protect the U.S. workforce. This includes 74 percent of Hispanic likely voters. Less than 20 percent of likely voters oppose mandatory E-Verify.
Additionally, 65 percent of likely voters say it is better for employers to raise wages and try harder to recruit the 17.1 million Americans who are out of work rather than importing cheaper foreign workers. Another 61 percent of likely voters say the U.S. already has enough skilled talent in the domestic labor pool for employers to recruit from.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
Joe Biden Recommits to Amnesty for Illegal Aliens as 17M Americans Are Jobless
President Joe Biden recommitted on Tuesday that he wants to pass an amnesty for 11 to 22 million illegal aliens living in the United States even as more than 17 million Americans remain jobless.
During a CNN town hall event with Anderson Cooper in Wisconsin, Biden said it is “essential” that any piece of legislation regarding immigration must include an amnesty for nearly all illegal aliens in the U.S.
The exchange went as follows:
COOPER: Just to be clear though … you do want a pathway to citizenship for roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants and that would be essential in any bill for you?
BIDEN: Well, yes. But, by the way, if you came along and said to me, “In the meantime we can work out a system whereby we’re going to” … for example, we used to allow refugees, 125,000 refugees into the United States on a yearly basis. It was as high as 250,000. Trump cut it 5,000.
Come with me … into Sierra Leone. Come with me into parts of Lebanon. Come with me around the world and see people piled up in camps, kids dying, no way out, refugees fleeing from persecution. We, the United States, used to do our part. We were part of that … “send me your huddled masses.”
If you had a refugee bill by itself, I’m not suggesting that, but … there are things I would deal by itself but not at the expense of saying I’m never going to do the other. There is a reasonable path to citizenship.
This week, Biden is expected to roll out his amnesty plan with elected Democrats. Simultaneously, as a result of economic lockdowns spurred by the Chinese coronavirus crisis, about 17.1 million Americans are out of work but all of whom want full-time jobs.
In his previously proposed amnesty plan, out late last month, Biden seeks to immediately provide green cards to millions of illegal aliens considered farmworkers, enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries.
The amnesty would provide all other illegal aliens with a fast-track to green cards and citizenship while driving up legal immigration by providing more visas to programs like the Diversity Visa Lottery and exempting family members of certain visa holders from current caps.
Already, the U.S. provides green cards to 1.2 million legal immigrants and 1.4 million temporary visas to foreign nationals every year. These arrivals are in addition to the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who turn up at the U.S.-Mexico border and are either released into the interior of the country or successfully cross without being detected by federal immigration officials.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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