Conservative radio legend Michael Savage, who has long described “borders, language, and culture” as the three pillars that define a nation, ripped “left-wing racists” for making the issue of Ukrainian refugees about race as he welcomed highly skilled Ukrainians fleeing war, contrasting them with “illegals” from Central America seeking a “welfare cushion to land on.”
Offering his reaction to recent reports of Ukrainian refugees being turned away at the southern border, conservative radio host and best-selling author Michael Savage in an interview with Newsmax TV’s Grant Stinchfield on Tuesday, described the current period as a “terribly tragic time in human history,” while calling out “racists” on the left for their obsessive focus on race.
“Left-wing racists are making this about race,” he said, adding that “fleeing a war zone such as Ukraine is not the same as running to a welfare zone.”
He then highlighted factors distinguishing different refugee groups.
“What people should understand is that the Central Americans, as wonderful as some of these people can be, are largely illiterate in their own native language,” he said.
“Most of them cannot read or write Spanish. They can speak it [but] they can’t read or write it,” he added. “They have no skills that we need. They are coming here as total wards of the state.”
In contrast, Savage described the skills possessed by Ukrainian refugees.
“Conversely, most Ukrainians are trilingual,” he noted. “They speak Ukrainian, they speak Russian, and many of them speak English,” with many of those seeking asylum in the U.S. being “professionals bringing skills that we can use in this country.”
“They’re trilingual, they’re literate, [and] they’re trained professionals,” he explained.
The famed radio commentator rejected the notion that race played any role in such decisions.
“So it’s not really about race as some in the media such as ABC News are trying to make it,” he said, adding, “they’re dissimulating everything and mixing it all together. We all know how they work.”
After Stinchfield suggested Ukrainians “don’t fit the mold” desired by Democrats — namely to “import poverty into the U.S.” and have them rely on the “democrat dole” — Savage reiterated their potential to contribute greatly to the country.
“They’re going to make it about skin color, not about language skills, not about technical skills, [and] not about professionalism — and most Ukrainians coming here come here to work,” he said, adding many currently fleeing the war-torn country are engineers, scientists, teachers, and architects.
“They belong here,” he added.
Elaborating on the issue, he explained that his view rested solely on feasibility.
“Unfortunately — and again, this is not a racial issue — this is [about] how many people can we absorb in this nation,” he explained.
“How can we take people in who have no language skills and no professional skills that we need?” he asked.
In reference to an English-speaking Ukrainian mother with local American family and friends ready to assist and support her being turned away at the border who was seen pleading for refuge while talking with reporters earlier in the week, Savage expressed outrage.
“Now compare that with the three [to] four million illegals coming in from Central America who have nothing but a welfare cushion to land on,” he said. “This is sickening.”
Savage’s remarks come as numerous reports surfaced of Ukrainian refugees being turned away at the southern border despite President Biden’s pledge to “welcome Ukrainian refugees with open arms.”
Meanwhile, America faces record-high levels of illegal immigration as it sees a massive influx of illegals — some with ties to gangs or terror groups — from Mexico, Central America, and the Middle East.
In January, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was reported to have admitted in private that illegal immigration in President Biden’s first year in office is “worse now than … ever” before in American history.
Last year, President Biden set new records for illegal immigration by enticing more than two million border crossers and illegal aliens to take the often deadly journey through Mexico to the nation’s southern border in the hopes of being released into the U.S.
In addition, Mexican cartels have been taking advantage of the migrant crisis along the southwestern border to move fentanyl and methamphetamine-laced pills to all parts of the U.S.
Savage previously warned of the dangers posed by the Biden administration and the state of the nation’s border earlier this year.
“We’re at the beginning of something terrible with this incompetent, sickly old man surrounded by fools who hate this country,” he said in reference to the president, while describing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as the “greatest national security threat right now [for] what he has done to our border.”
Last month, left-wing New York Times reporter and controversial 1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones accused journalists covering the Russian invasion into Ukraine of “racialized analysis and language” in their reporting, indicating their “sympathy” for white victims of conflict and refugees in particular while claiming Europe is a fictional continent intended to separate it from non-“civilized” nations.
On Tuesday, MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes accused European countries of “racism” and “anti-Muslim bigotry” for welcoming those fleeing war in neighboring Ukraine, having opposed accepting Syrian migrants.