“Until the United States can implement laws that can stop [illegal immigration], you’re always going to have this problem,” said David, a recipient of a temporary work visa via the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.
David — whose full name was withheld — made his comments on Tuesday’s edition of Breitbart News Tonight in an interview with Breitbart News’s Senior Editors-at-Large Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak.
Surprisingly, many of his opinions matched those of Breitbart News’ readers and listeners.
Illegal immigration is incentivized by DACA, an insecure southern border, and lack of enforcement of immigration law, said David: “When they had done the 1986 amnesty, they should have made it very tough. Once people know that they can come into the country and work and live and not have the law come after them, I think they will come. Until the United States can implement laws that can stop that, you’re always going to have this problem. So if you do DACA now, without having anything to stop the flood of illegal immigrants, it’s gonna get worse.”
A national mandate for employers to use E-Verify, said David, would disincentive foreigners from pursuing illegal immigration by reducing their employment prospects in the homeland: “I think E-Verify will stop [illegal immigration]. I think once you remove the incentive, I think it’s going to stop.”
He added: “I don’t think any United States citizen wants the country to be flooded with unskilled immigrants. I don’t see that. I don’t see how anybody would want that… the country can only sustain a certain number of people.”
The diversity visa lottery, said David, is a nonsensical policy: “The visa lottery is garbage. That needs to go away. I don’t even know why that was ever put into place. I don’t see the sense of that. Get rid of it.”
Chain migration should also be restricted, added David, calling for recalibration of immigration policy to place greater weight on merit in screening prospective immigrants: “When it comes to chain migration, you can’t really sponsor your whole generation. Maybe just your parents? They’re sponsoring all types of people. Chain migration, it’s not something I agree with too much. I think there should be a limit. You should be able to sponsor your spouse, there’s no doubt in that. Maybe you should be able to sponsor your kids up to a certain age.”
David described himself as having been “punished” for his illegal status, prompting Mansour to describe the benefits he yielded as a result of his unlawful emigration to America. The partial transcript follows, below:
MANSOUR: There’s a lot of people that will say that we don’t really owe you anything, and it’s unfortunate that this is a hardship for you, but it’s not our problem, and that we have to have rule of law. Now, how do you respond to that?
DAVID: I have a great response to that. Here’s what I tell folks. So, I broke the law when I was eight years old. No doubt. I came here illegally when I was eight years old. How much longer should I be punished?
MANSOUR: Well, you haven’t been punished, at all. You’ve been staying here and enjoying American education. You enjoyed all of these benefits as an American, but you are not an America. So you haven’t been punished at all, I’m afraid.
DAVID: Well, I’m not that’s a clear case. I’m not sure you’ve ever walked into a bank and can’t, it’s hard to get a bank account; not having a driving license; having to work at a 99-cent store. I’ve once worked 72 hours a week for $150.
MANSOUR: So that’s a hardship? That doesn’t sound like a hardship for a lot of people in other countries. I’m not sure that’s a hardship.
DAVID: The question I have for you is, what does it take for someone like me to earn that status?
David was illegally brought into America as an eight-year-old in 1989 with his family from an unspecified South American country. He described himself as American, without meaningful ties to his country of origin.
“I would love to stay in the United States,” said David, noting that his DACA-provided work permit expires within two months. “I don’t want to move my kids. I don’t want to sell my house. I don’t want to get rid of my business.”
“In my mind I was born here,” said David. “I don’t know anything else. I can’t remember what my country looks like.”
“It’s a country I know nothing about,” said David of his country of birth.
David said that he had applied for a work permit via DACA in 2012, receiving it in 2013.
Breitbart News Tonight airs Monday through Friday on SiriusXM’s Patriot channel 125 from 9:00 p.m. to midnight Eastern (6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pacific).
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Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.
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