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.
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.
Biden Ends ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy, Allows Asylum Seekers Into US
The Biden administration announced Thursday it will roll back former president Donald Trump's "remain in Mexico" policy, allowing about 25,000 asylum seekers in Mexico to enter the United States for their immigration hearings.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the creation of a virtual registration program for asylum seekers that will begin next week. Registered asylum seekers will be advised to travel to a location on the U.S.-Mexico border where they will be tested for coronavirus before entering the United States.
Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the move a step toward reforming the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
"This latest action is another step in our commitment to reform immigration policies that do not align with our nation’s values," Mayorkas said. "Especially at the border, however, where capacity constraints remain serious, changes will take time. Individuals who are not eligible under this initial phase should wait for further instructions and not travel to the border."
Under the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), asylum seekers were made to remain in Mexico during their immigration proceedings. The policy has applied to more than 70,000 prospective migrants since it was established in 2018, including thousands of asylum seekers who crossed the border illegally.
Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.), a member of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, slammed the change in policy, saying it undermines national security and public health.
"This is the latest in a long string of open border policies from the Biden administration," Steube told the Washington Free Beacon. "While his administration lifts travel bans to allow terrorists into the United States and puts out this new MPP order to overwhelm the southern border, his administration has also talked about a domestic travel ban for Florida. His policies put America last by threatening our national security, jeopardizing public health, and attacking our own."
The Biden administration also removed an emergency designation used to secure funding for the border wall on Thursday, after Rep. John Katko (R., N.Y.) and other Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee sent a letter to the president calling for action to address the "mounting crisis" at the border.
"Your recent sweeping border security and immigration enforcement policy rollbacks are causing a new crisis at our southwest border, undercutting the rule of law, and damaging the integrity of our territorial borders," the letter reads. "If you are, indeed, serious about finding common ground on homeland security issues important to the lives of Americans, let us return to a time—not too long ago—when Democrats joined Republicans in supporting increased funding to secure our border, including physical barriers and other commonsense security and enforcement measures."
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