Tom McClintock Calls Out House Dems: That Is A ‘Supreme Insult To Legal Immigrants’

4 months ago

On Wednesday, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) questioned witnesses on the continued Southern border crisis during a House Budget Committee hearing.

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00:00 McClintock from California for five minutes. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I need to begin by noting the

00:05 Democrats' habit of discussing legal and illegal immigrants as if they were the same. That is a

00:12 supreme insult to the millions of legal immigrants who enter our country every year by obeying our

00:19 laws. Legal immigrants come here pledged to pull their weight, not to be a burden on others, to

00:24 obey our laws and to love and defend our country. Illegal immigrants come here under very different

00:30 circumstances. Their first act is to commit a federal crime by illegally entering our country.

00:37 Their second act is to demand free food, shelter, medical care, clothing, education, transportation,

00:44 and legal services. I've watched them at the border taunting our border patrol as they illegally

00:49 cross into our country. To equate their lawless behavior with law-abiding, hard-working, and

00:56 patriotic legal immigrants is outrageous, and my colleagues who do so should be ashamed of

01:02 themselves. The Senate bill we heard the ranking member tout would make it impossible for a future

01:10 president to use his existing authority to secure the border, as Trump did, until illegal crossings

01:16 exceed 4,000 a day. And as border patrol agents tell us, the problem is not lack of laws,

01:24 it's a deliberate decision by the Democrats not to enforce those laws. Now the Democrats tell us,

01:30 well, this is great for the economy, since the more people in the economy, the larger it is.

01:34 Well, duh. But as the CBO director testified to this committee earlier this year,

01:40 the economic impact on working Americans is catastrophic, because it suppresses wages for

01:46 unskilled and low-skilled American workers, and it breeds an underground economy that further

01:51 suppresses the competitiveness of American workers. So working Americans see their wages

01:56 stagnate as a result, and many are forced out of the labor market entirely. Ms. Kirchner,

02:01 how do we help working Americans by flooding the labor market with cheap, illegal labor?

02:06 We don't help them at all. And actually, if we were wanted to be kind to their previous

02:16 generations of immigrants, we would not flood the market with cheap labor. There is ample evidence

02:23 that it depresses wages. And the CBO director actually confirmed that right here before this

02:27 committee. You estimated the net cost to U.S. taxpayers to be $150 billion to support these

02:33 illegals after deducting what little tax they pay. That includes $70 billion in costs to our

02:40 schools, does it not? Yes, sir. And $22 billion for medical care? Yes, sir. What do you think

02:46 the Democrats would say if Republicans proposed cutting $70 billion out of our schools and $22

02:53 billion out of our hospitals? And yet, isn't that exactly what they're doing?

03:01 Well, I wouldn't propose to put words in anyone's mouth, but I do think that

03:04 illegal immigration has consequences, and we need to accept that as a nation, and we need to make

03:11 good policy decisions. And that means understanding the real impact of what's going on and the costs

03:16 that are associated, not just the economic benefits, as you said, of growing the greater

03:21 economic pie, the GDP, measuring alone. And everything is made up of choices. And your

03:28 estimate of cost is just direct cost to the government. It's not the cost of crimes committed

03:32 by illegals. It's not the cost of wage reductions for working Americans. It's strictly the direct

03:39 cost. It's a snapshot of payments and revenues. The Democrats tell us that illegal immigrants are

03:44 more law-abiding than Americans. Mr. Smith, are the illegals entering your county more law-abiding

03:51 than your legal residents? Well, I can tell you from the numbers that I quoted earlier,

03:56 of those thousands of cases, we have about 50 county residents being prosecuted. The remaining

04:01 is the result of an open border. And I would just add that, you know, there is a difference.

04:06 I've got to go on. Ms. Kirchner, did you not look at the SCAPE request made by states for the cost

04:12 of incarcerating illegals and conclude that illegals are 231 percent more likely to be

04:17 jailed for crimes in California, 440 percent more likely in New Jersey, and 60 percent more likely

04:24 in Texas? I have not looked at the recent data, but I know, and certainly in California, it's very

04:29 high. In fact, in some states like California, they make it illegal to report immigration status

04:36 of suspects. So using Cato's methodology, illegal aliens never commit a crime in California. Yes,

04:43 that is a problem, sir. And we do know the truth. We know. And even, you know, it's interesting is

04:47 even the Biden administration recently has been coming out and saying, please, sanctuary cities,

04:52 please honor our detainers. We don't want to deport many people, but the people we want to deport

04:56 are very bad. Let me just finish by saying that opposition to illegal immigration is not opposition

05:01 to legal immigration. In fact, the people I find who are the angriest about illegal immigration

05:07 are the legal immigrants who have played by the rules, waited patiently in line, and are now

05:14 watching millions of illegal migrants cut in line in front of them. And if we're going to encourage

05:18 and reward illegal immigration, which is the clear and consistent policy of the Democrats today,

05:24 then there's no point in legal immigration. I yield back. The gentleman's time has expired,

05:29 and we now yield five minutes to the gentlelady from Illinois, Ms. Schakowsky.

Tom McClintock Calls Out House Dems: That Is A ‘Supreme Insult To Legal Immigrants’

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