E-Verify Advocate Lamar Smith: White House Amnesty Plan ‘Not a Good Deal’ for American Workers

Lamar Smith
Charles Dharapak/STF Associated Press

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the longtime advocate for American workers, says the White House’s expansive amnesty to give potentially millions of illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship has left him “disappointed.”

Smith slammed the White House amnesty plan — crafted by advisers such as Marc Short, Gen. John Kelly, Kirstjen Nielsen, and Stephen Miller — saying in a statement that it would “grant amnesty today,” while delaying all pro-American immigration reforms “until a distant tomorrow.”

Smith said:

I am disappointed in the administration’s immigration proposal. There is not much interior enforcement and it doesn’t include workforce verification, which would protect jobs for American workers. This proposal grants amnesty today and delays legal immigration reforms until a distant tomorrow. It is not a good deal for the American people. Immigration policy should put the interests of American workers and taxpayers first. [Emphasis added]

The White House’s citizenship for illegal aliens plan includes:

  • Citizenship for at least 1.8 million illegal aliens and potentially millions more
  • A more than 10-year wait before legal immigration levels are reduced to provide much-needed relief and wage increases to America’s working and middle class
  • A repurposing of the 50,000 visas that currently import foreign nationals through the Visa Lottery
  • $25 billion to fund the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border
  • No provisions to enact mandatory E-Verify, which would ban employers from hiring illegal aliens
  • No provisions to deal with the issue of ending birthright citizenship

Smith is a longtime advocate for American workers and mandatory E-Verify, which would ban employers from hiring illegal aliens over Americans, pushing for the program’s implementation since the 1990’s.

In September, Smith introduced legislation to mandate E-Verify, as well as the “Immigration in the National Interest Act,” which is similar to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Sen. David Perdue’s (R-GA) legal immigration-cutting, wage-raising RAISE Act.

Under Smith’s legislation:

  • The U.S. would admit no more than 500,000 legal immigrants a year
  • The current low-skilled legal immigration system would be replaced by a merit-based system
  • Family chain migration, whereby newly naturalized citizens can bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the U.S., would be ended
  • Skilled immigrants with English language skills would be given priority

Every year, the U.S. admits more than 1.5 foreign nationals, with the vast majority deriving from family-based chain migration, whereby newly naturalized citizens can bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the U.S. In 2016, the legal and illegal immigrant population reached a record high of 44 million. By 2023, the Center for Immigration Studies estimates that the legal and illegal immigrant population of the U.S. will make up nearly 15 percent of the entire U.S. population.

Mass immigration has come at the expense of America’s working and middle class, which has suffered from poor job growth, stagnant wages, and increased public costs to offset the importation of millions of low-skilled foreign nationals.

For blue-collar American workers, mass immigration has not only kept wages down but in many cases decreased wages, as Breitbart News reported. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues importing more foreign nationals with whom working-class Americans are forced to compete. In 2016, the U.S. brought in about 1.8 million mostly low-skilled immigrants.

For white-collar American workers, mass immigration has become a tool for the big business lobby, cheap labor industry, and Silicon Valley elites to replace U.S. citizens with cheaper foreign workers. For example, as Breitbart News reported, 71 percent of tech workers in coveted high-paying, white-collar Silicon Valley jobs are foreign-born, while the tech industry in the San Francisco, Oakland, and Hayward area is made up of 50 percent foreign-born tech workers.

The growing foreign-born population dominating the workforce in Silicon Valley comes as nearly 500,000 Americans graduate in the STEM fields every year. Overall, four million young Americans enter the workforce every year, but their job opportunities are further diminished as there are roughly two new foreign workers for every four American workers who enter the workforce.

Since 2005, chain migration has imported more than nine million foreign nationals to the U.S., making it the largest driver of immigration —  more than 70 percent of all legal immigration. As Breitbart News reported, five years of chain migration to the U.S. adds more people to the country than one year of American births.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder

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