House Majority Leader hopeful Rep. Raul Labrador’s (R-ID) stance on immigration received a negative reception on Tuesday’s broadcast of Laura Ingraham’s radio show. Ingraham asked Labrador if he would sign the FAIR Pledge, and he responded “No I will not,” to which Ingraham retorted, “So, you’re where Cantor is because he won’t either?”
The two then squared off over Labrador’s support for increased guest workers and legal immigrants. Ingraham accused Labrador of ignoring the needs of middle class workers.
“Their wages are flat-lining and their standard of living is deteriorating, yet you want to bring in more guest workers and foreign workers into America?” Ingraham said.
“If we do it the right way, we can grow the economy,” Labrador replied.
“So the Americans are too lazy?” Ingraham added.
Even though Ingraham and Labrador both stated that they agree on immigration for the most part, the host included Labrador in a statement against the House GOP, where she argued, “You guys keep your head down, it’s like running into the wall at 50 miles an hour Cantor can lose, McDaniel can win in Mississippi, got Lamar Alexander who is on the line in Tennessee and you all are just ‘Well, we gotta do immigration reform.’”
Labrador is locked into a race with House Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). But Labrador and McCarthy both support legalization for the undocumented immigrants already in the country and are largely in line with establishment thinking on the issue according to a report by Breitbart News’ Caroline May posted on Tuesday.
“They are both what I would call high immigration guys,” Center for Immigration Studies director of research Steven Camarota explained to Breitbart News. “They are inclined to see the benefits of immigration, not the costs. They’re inclined to be sympathetic to employers who want more workers and not as inclined to see the general wage stagnation across the U.S. economy and the enormous number of working-age people not working.”
Labrador was a part of the bipartisan so-called Gang of Eight in the House working on a reform agreement but backed out of the group last June over a dispute dealing with health care for 11 million undocumented immigrants.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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