Ted Cruz: 'Indefensible' Immigration Bill Penalizes Employers for Hiring US Citizens

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) emphasized that the Senate’s immigration bill’s intersection with Obamacare would penalize employers for hiring U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.

Keynoting the D.C. March for Jobs rally, which the Black American Leadership Alliance organized and Breitbart News exclusively broadcast, Cruz said this is a provision that the mainstream media has not covered and does not want to inform Americans about it. 

“One of the most egregious aspects of the Gang of Eight bill is its intersection with Obamacare,” Cruz said. He said employers under Obamacare will have to pay a $3,000 penalty for every employee if they do not provide health insurance and would thus penalize businesses “that hire a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident over an illegal immigrant.”

Cruz was referring to the fines employers with more than 50 full-time employees will be subjected to under the Obamacare employer mandate once it is implemented after the one-year delay the Obama administration sought and received. 

Since illegal immigrants or those who gain provisional status due to the Senate bill are exempted from Obamacare, Cruz said employers would also be incentivized to reduce the hours of U.S. citizens or legal immigrants instead of those of who gained provisional status under the bill. 

Many employers are reducing the hours of their employees to under 30 hours a week so their employees do not qualify as “full-time employees.”