House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) apparently wants struggling working-class Americans to stay poor, saying he is opposed to President Donald Trump’s proposed immigration cuts.
Trump, along with Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and David Perdue (R-GA), this week introduced the RAISE Act, a largely merit-based immigration program that aims to protect U.S. taxpayers and American workers by reducing legal immigration and putting upward pressure on wages.
“I just think arbitrary cuts to legal immigration don’t take into effect the economy’s needs as the boomers are retiring,” Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday afternoon. “With baby boomers leaving the workforce, we’re still going to have labor shortages in certain areas and that is where a well-reformed legal immigration system should be able to make up the difference.”
Breitbart News’ John Carney’s analysis determined that the bill, which would cut “legal immigration into the United States by half and grant entry based on education, the ability to speak English, and jobs skills,” would actually make working-class Americans wealthier because “the gross domestic product per U.S. resident would grow.”
Massive and unchecked legal immigration based on current law often prevents many Americans from moving up from the middle class for it allows high-tech companies, for instance, to use H-1B visas to displace Americans from good-paying technological jobs and replace them with foreigners who are not as qualified. In addition, it also prevents millions of Americans from moving into the middle class or even entering the workforce and getting on the economic ladder by putting downward pressure on wages or making it more difficult for Americans to find jobs that do not require advanced degrees.
The Wall Street Journal essentially sided with Ryan, arguing that more immigrants are needed to keep wages down, apparently conceding that the Raise Act would reduce the downward pressure that massive immigration is being put on wages.
According to the Journal-Sentinel, though Ryan, always the politician, said he had not familiarized himself with the Raise Act, “he questioned the wisdom of actually cutting the number of immigrants entering the United States.”
“I think legal immigration is good for our country. I’m a supporter of legal immigration,” Ryan said.
As Breitbart News has reported, Ryan has long represented the corporatist and “power point” wing of the GOP on immigration. He has also worked with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) on various pieces of amnesty legislation over the years. The bombastic Chicago Democrat gave Ryan some heartfelt praise for Ryan’s pro-amnesty views during a joint 2013 appearance in which they pushed “comprehensive immigration reform.”
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