Immigration Advocate Admits To Tucker: 'I Haven't Spent A Lot of Time Thinking' How Much Is Enough
Tucker Carlson takes on an immigration advocate in a debate about the Trump administration’s proposed immigration plan and why Democrats are still against it.
Henry Fernandez, a fellow at the Center for American Progress, joined Carlson on Fox News Monday night.
Carlson gave statistics on projected U.S. population through 2065 and asked his guest, based on the fact that immigration drives population growth, “How many people should live in this country?”
“That’s a really interesting question. I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking through it,” Fernandez replied. “But I feel like it’s certainly one worth discussing and trying to figure out what our policy should be in regard to growth.”
Carlson was taken aback and countered, “Population defines everything in this country. But isn’t that kind of the central question? Why haven’t you thought about that?”
Fernandez defended his stance by saying that he was focused on the “Dreamers” under DACA.
“What I’m interested in right now is a much smaller group of people, just a narrow issue which is these dreamers and making sure they have a pathway to citizenship,” he said, adding that there is a bipartisan bill circulating that focuses on dreamers and border security.
Carlson then asked about the argument that low wage immigration will benefit the U.S. economy.
“If a lot of low wage labor makes a country rich, why isn’t Mexico rich?” he asked. “How are all of us going to benefit economically from continued low wage immigration?”
Fernandez’s example was the Social Security trust fund, “it relies heavily on immigrants to subsidized the large number of people who are retiring right now.”
The Trump administration released their proposed immigration plan last week that would provide a pathway to citizenship for around 1.8 million “Dreamers” and also calls for a $25 billion added investment in border security, which includes the construction of a border wall, according to Fox News.
Despite previous statements, the president, along with many Republican lawmakers, has continued to show interest in keeping DACA in place by way of legislative action. The GOP has been working with Democrats on a fix to the Obama-era executive order.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said he was open to giving citizenship to young illegal immigrants under the DACA program after so many years — given that they obey the law, contribute to the U.S. economy and show “good moral character.”
“We’re going to morph into it,” Trump said of a pathway to citizenship. “It’s going to happen, at some point in the future, over a period of 10 to 12 years.”
Democrats, such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, still are not impressed with the proposed plan.
Pelosi said in a statement that it “attempts to hold the DREAMers hostage to an unmistakable campaign to make America white again.”
“The Administration’s anti-immigrant framework is an act of staggering cowardice,” Pelosi wrote in her statement.
Most Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have suggested that a final immigration deal will include compromises. While the White House has released their plan, Congress is working on its own agenda.
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