Dem Rep. Crockett on Asylum Laws: We Need People Coming for Jobs Because ‘We Need More Tax Income’

On Friday’s “CNN News Central,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) argued that U.S. asylum laws aren’t the problem and we should give work permits to people who come to the U.S. for economic reasons because “We need more tax income anyway.”

Co-host John Berman asked, “What changes, if any, would you be willing to make to asylum laws to relieve some of the pressure here?”

Crockett responded, “So, I don’t think that that’s the problem. So, for me, that’s not the fix. It’s one of those things that Republicans like to put out things and make it seem as if this is going to fix the problem, for people that have never been involved in this, as someone who comes from the state of Texas, who was serving in the Texas House when Operation Lone Star began, I understand what doesn’t look like a fix. But I also understand what makes people feel better, and Republicans simply want to campaign on fixing immigration when they know that it’s not an actual fix. They don’t want to provide the resources that are necessary. We need to make sure that we have the courts that are fully staffed. We need to make sure that these persons that are coming over seeking jobs have the ability to actually work so that they’re not a burden, but instead, they’re doing exactly what they want to do, which is working and supporting themselves and adding to our tax resources. We need more tax income anyway. So, we absolutely can work through this, but Congress has to be willing to fully fund everything around immigration.”

She added that to reduce the flow of people on the border, she’d spend more on foreign aid and help other countries enter into better trade agreements, and “our dollar goes a lot further in a lot of these different countries than it goes here.”

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