Republicans “savor” the border crisis and seek to “get back to slavery,” according to Georgia Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson, who claimed that migrants are necessary to help “put food on our table,” serve as custodians, and “clean up” hospitals.
Speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Johnson bemoaned the continued “assault on the concept of immigration” into the United States.
The congressman accused Republicans of a lack of willingness “to do anything resembling comprehensive immigration reform,” which he alleged would “alleviate” the current border situation.
“I think my friends on the other side of the aisle like to see what they object to so vociferously,” he stated. “They like to see folks lined up at the border waiting to get into this country simply so that they can work, and the only route that they have to get in is to present themselves lawfully at the border and request asylum. That’s the only pathway available to them.”
Instead, Johnson pushed for “comprehensive reform that would allow people to apply for lawful entry in the countries where they reside, which they are trying to leave so that they can create some economic opportunity for themselves and their families.”
“They don’t want to change residences or domiciles, they just simply want to go to where the jobs are,” he said.
According to Johnson, Republicans oppose such reforms because they “like to see [migrants] lined up at the border because they know that that’s a stream of labor ready to be exploited, with cheap, if any, compensation.”
“I mean, if you could get back to slavery you would gladly do so, but if you could pay people a dollar an hour you would settle for that,” he stated. “And that’s the race to the bottom that we have with immigrants lined up at the border trying to get in to go to work.”
“And my Republican friends talk about how they don’t like that, how it’s a crisis, but yet they savor it,” he added, “because they know that it means cheap labor for the companies that they represent and that support them with campaign contributions coming here.”
Johnson claimed the proposed legislation calling to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to explicitly state that assaulting a law enforcement officer is a deportable offense, is intended to further the Republican objective to “demonize immigrants to create a crisis at the border so that people come here and they are always subject to being illegal workers.”
“And we need to do something about that in this country,” he charged.
While perpetuating certain stereotypes, Johnson argued that immigrants were necessary to help prepare food, and serve as custodians and cleaners:
Those folks that are coming across are the ones who are helping to put food on our table; without them we’re not able to eat. If you turn them away, if all of them were turned away and this legislation passed making it easier to get at people who are already here legally — and you have no immigration — then we would have no food on our plates; we would have nobody taking care of the building, the construction of our homes; we wouldn’t have anybody cleaning up in the hospitals, you know, honest work that deserves an honest day’s pay.
“That’s the kind of system that we need to have in this country,” he added.
Johnson concluded by highlighting the significance of immigration and accusing Republicans of wanting to “pretend that they want to close the border, [while] all they want to do is to create a steady stream of folks who will come in and work at reduced labor costs.”
His comments quickly drew backlash.
“The wise sage of the House,” mocked Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher.
Radio host Pamela Furr called Johson’s remarks the “most asinine” she had “ever heard.”
“The fact that GA keeps voting this guy in is a commentary to how disconnected the voters there must be,” wrote talk radio host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo.
“Yes.. he actually thought Guam could tip over. And yes, he’s lying about Rs [Republicans] wanting slavery. HIS party were the slave masters,” he added.
“This is another race baiting pandering Democrat who conveniently leaves out the fact that it was the Democratic Administration that opened the border and created this mess. And that the Democratic Party was the party of slavery,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Friendly reminder [Rep. Hank Johnson], Democrats were the party of slavery and the KKK, and continue to be to this day,” another wrote. “No amount of hogwash you spew changes that fact.”
Last month, progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) faced accusations of “racism” over her claims that America “needs” immigrants in order to “pick the food we eat” and “clean our homes.”
The matter comes as the Biden administration faces criticism over its open border policies, with Republican House members accusing the current administration’s policies of having “deliberately” created the “most illegal border crossings” in U.S. history.
In March, Republican officials called the Biden presidency “the best thing that ever happened” to the drug cartels, while blaming his administration for having “empowered” them.
The United States continues to face record-high levels of illegal immigration, with over 844,000 migrants either apprehended after crossing the southwest border or classified as “got-aways” during the first quarter of fiscal year 2023.
In nearly the first two years under the Biden administration, Border Patrol agents have apprehended a record-setting 4.2 million migrants.
It also comes as the CDC’s Title 42 COVID-19 expulsion authority is set to expire in less than 24 hours.
The end of the expulsion authority will mark the final departure from any enforcement policies enacted under the Trump administration that saw migrant crossing numbers drop rapidly in late 2019 and 2020.
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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