Democrat Cindy Axne Suggests Importing More Foreign Visa Workers to Take American Jobs

Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA) says the United States ought to import more foreign visa workers to fill blue-collar American jobs even as nearly 12 million Americans remain jobless.

During an interview with WHO13, Axne said the number of foreign visa workers brought to the U.S. should be expanded beyond the already 1.5 million who arrive annually to take American jobs in white-collar and blue-collar industries.

Axne said:

I think, you know, right now what we could be doing is expanding, you know, the numbers of visas that we have in the necessary areas that we need them in right now. I can talk about health care providers that have been in my office nonstop, you know, we need to expand opportunity … just take agriculture, we’ve got all these great paying jobs now in in construction that we just don’t have enough workers for. [Emphasis added]

There’s nobody left here to come to work … I mean, we’ve been sitting at, you know, somewhere between 3.2 to 3.7 unemployment for decades, right? For a long time, my goodness, when I was at the state of Iowa, it was right around 3.5; we’re down to 2.6, as the Secretary [of Labor] said, we just don’t have anybody left. The folks that aren’t working. It’s not that they can’t be taken care of somebody. And they don’t have that opportunity is, has to come with immigration reform … here’s not enough courage and too many members out in Washington to get this done. I’m willing to come to the table. I’ve said this since my very first run to work on a full immigration reform package. [Emphasize added]

Despite Axne’s claims, about 11.6 million Americans remain jobless, the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows. In Iowa, alone, about 45,000 Americans are unemployed.

In white-collar healthcare jobs, recent congressional testimony revealed that about 7,000 American citizens lose out on taxpayer-funded residencies to foreign nationals despite having earned their degrees as medical graduate physicians.

Meanwhile, in blue-collar industries, Axne’s suggestion to expand legal immigration levels would loosen the labor market and likely drive down wages for the lowest-wage Americans in jobs like construction and agriculture.

Axne’s insistence on increasing the number of foreign workers in the U.S. comes as she has raked in tens of thousands of dollars from industries that have a financial interest in a constant flow of cheaper, foreign workers to hire over Americans who ask for higher wages and better benefits.

This election cycle, Axne has taken nearly $200,000 from the real estate industry, more than $72,000 from the agricultural industry, and more than $70,000 from hospitals and nursing homes.

Axne’s position also matches that of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has lobbied Congress to provide amnesty to millions of illegal aliens as well as double legal immigration levels for the benefit of corporate interests and big business.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.