House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said during a press conference Thursday that President Joe Biden is more interested in helping illegal immigrants than helping American citizens.
McCarthy said he was disappointed “to see within hours of assuming office, the new administration is more interested in helping illegal immigrants than helping our own citizens.”
Biden is currently working on pushing a bill that would provide amnesty for more than 11 million illegal immigrants. The plan would reportedly provide amnesty for illegal immigrants who arrived before January 1, 2021.
McCarthy’s statement follows as he told Breitbart News’s Matthew Boyle that Biden is preparing to provide amnesty for millions of Americans while millions of Americans remain out of work due to the coronavirus.
McCarthy said:
The coronavirus and government-imposed lockdowns have left millions of Americans unemployed and small businesses shut down. Our immediate national priority must be to help Americans get back to work. Instead, the first legislative priority we get from the new administration is not one aimed at lowering unemployment for Americans or reopening our economy, but a radical immigration bill granting citizenship to millions of illegal aliens.
Not only does it undermine our rule of law and encourage more illegal immigration, it tells our fellow Americans their misfortune isn’t our nation’s top priority. Will this proposal help Americans get back to work? Most certainly not. And until that happens, the Biden administration must focus on helping our own citizens first.
Other Republicans, such as Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Tom Cotton (R-AR), warned of the potential negative effects amnesty would have on America.
Cruz said in a statement Wednesday:
It is deeply troubling that most of Joe Biden’s first acts as president were to protect illegal immigrants and encourage illegal immigration at the expense of American jobs and workers. Not only has he chosen to halt construction of a wall on America’s southern border and to continue Barack Obama’s illegal executive amnesty by preserving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, but he is promoting open-borders legislation that would gift citizenship to over 11 million illegal immigrants, roll back immigration enforcement, and promote and increase foreign labor at a time when many Americans desperately need work.
“These actions illustrate that today’s Democratic Party puts people here illegally – or attempting to come here illegally – before American workers. President Biden and his administration may not see a problem with illegal immigration, but millions of working men and women do,” he added.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.