Congressman Challenges Facebook's Zuckerberg to Tour Insecure U.S. Border

Congressman Challenges Facebook's Zuckerberg to Tour Insecure U.S. Border

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) said on Sunday that billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg should either drop his lobbying for amnesty via FWD.us or come with him for a real first-hand look at how America’s borders are not secure.

“If Mr. Zuckerberg insists on weighing in on immigration I invite him to take off his rose-colored glasses and come tour the Arizona border with me,” Gosar said in a statement provided to Breitbart News. “The people of my district know that until we secure our borders no solution will work.”

Zuckberg has recently renewed his push for amnesty for America’s at least million illegal aliens–and called for a comprehensive immigration reform solution that includes, as he alluded to during an interview with ABC News this weekend, importation of foreign workers for his company Facebook rather than hiring American workers to do those jobs.

In the ABC News interview, Zuckerberg said he believes granting amnesty to those who broke America’s laws by illegally entering or illegally staying in the country is “one of the biggest civil rights issues of our time.”

Gosar said he finds those comments Zuckerberg made about amnesty “disrespectful.”

“I find Mr. Zuckerberg’s comments disrespectful to our nations civil rights heroes,” Gosar said. “To compare legalizing the status of those who criminally entered and reside in our nation to the struggles of those who faced racial or gender inequality is wrong. There is a legal process to enter our nation and we should not reward those who circumvented it.”

Like Zuckerberg, Attorney General Eric Holder has likened amnesty to a “civil rights” issue. Gosar has led congressional efforts to force the resignation of Holder for his failure to comply with the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. 

Gosar’s call for Zuckerberg to see the real issues with regard to the immigration debate through a tour on the border comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have demanded a meeting with the Facebook CEO. 

“Earlier this month, we sent a letter to the major CEOs pushing a comprehensive immigration plan asking that they meet with ICE officers,” ICE National Council president Chris Crane, who represents about 7,000 ICE agents and support staff, said on Saturday evening. 

One of those on the letter was Mark Zuckerberg, who has invested considerable time and money to get proposed legislation like the Gang of Eight bill signed into law. Mr. Zuckerberg ignored the letter and meeting request from ICE law enforcement and instead met with illegal immigrants. We therefore renew our request to meet with Mr. Zuckerberg and share firsthand the knowledge and experience of ICE officers and agents who witness every day the negative impact to public safety that occurs because ICE officers are prohibited from enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. The first question I would ask Mr. Zuckerberg would be: why did you support a bill, S. 744, which legalizes aliens with extensive criminal records, including sex offenders, gang members and other violent and dangerous criminal aliens? Until Mr. Zuckerberg meets with officers and learns the truth about our immigration system, I would respectfully suggest he suspend his lobbying activities.

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