Donald Trump Says Massive Legal Migration Is Eroding Middle Class

Donald Trump warned that both legal and illegal immigration are cutting Americans’ wages, following the release of a bombshell report from the Center for Immigration Studies which documents the nation’s record levels of immigration.

The report, which is based on 2015 U.S. Census data, found that 61 million immigrants and their U.S.-born children now reside within the United States, including 15.7 million of whom are illegal immigrants and their children.

“Almost one in five U.S. residents is now an immigrant or minor child of an immigrant parent,” the report states. “The numbers represent a complete break with recent history … as recently as 1970, there were only 13.5 million immigrants and their young children in the country, accounting for one in 15 U.S. residents.”

In response, Trump’s statement said that “record rates of immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for U.S. workers.”

Pew polling shows 83 percent of all voters — Democrats, Republicans and Independents — think immigration should be frozen or reduced. The biggest beneficiaries of allowing fewer foreign workers into our country would be minority workers, including all immigrants now living here, who are competing for jobs, benefits and community resources against record waves of foreign workers. Limiting job competition would reopen pathways to middle-class stability and shrink welfare rolls. In addition, it would relieve overcrowding in our schools and hospitals that afflict our poorest communities.

Trump notes that both Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz have pushed to massively expand immigration levels, writing: “Senators Cruz and Rubio have led the charge for even higher immigration,” a policy supported by only seven percent of the Republican electorate.

Indeed, Rubio introduced legislation that would triple green cards and double foreign workers, while Cruz pushed proposals to double the number of green cards and quintuple the annual inflow of H-1B guest worker visas.

Trump concludes his statement by pledging: “When I am President we will listen to the people — not the special interests — and get immigration numbers under control, as the voters have demanded.”