Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR) said she lectures the “conservative areas of my district” on the necessity of Biden’s open border because illegal immigrants must be imported to do menial labor.
“Every one of my farmers knows that the people that are doing backbreaking work in heat, in brutal weather, to put food on our table, they want immigration reform,” Hoyle said in recently unearthed comments during a February press conference. “Our chambers of commerce, they want immigration reform.”
The benign term “immigration reform” is commonly used by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and advocates of increased immigration, importation of cheap labor, and low wages.
The issue of immigration is a significant concern for Americans. The latest Harvard Harris poll found immigration — not inflation or the economy — was cited as the top issue among 36 percent of 2,111 registered voters in the March 20-21 poll from Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies.
But Hoyle appears to believe those concerns are unfounded, calling reporting about the border “disinformation.” She said part of her job is “get[ting] out into the most conservative part of my district” and “breaking through the disinformation and misinformation” about the border crisis.
“Their answer is, ‘why don’t you just shut down the border?,’ and I point out how much we need to have movement through the border and how much we need the workforce,” she said about conservatives in her district. “This has to be done,” she reports telling them regarding keeping the border open.
A Republican seeking to unseat Hoyle in the Fourth District said Hoyle is choosing to ignore the dangers of open borders at the expense of the safety of Oregonians, pointing to troubling statistics.
RELATED: Gorka: Biden’s Open Border Is the Greatest Threat to the U.S.
“By saying, ‘we need this movement through the border,’ Congresswoman Val Hoyle fails Oregonians in CD4 by recklessly marginalizing the full-blown national security crisis at our southern border,” Monique DeSpain said, accusing Hoyle of “choosing to ignore FBI Director Wray’s repeated plain statements that our nation is the most vulnerable to attack than it has ever been because of our open southern border.”
DeSpain continued, “It is about our open border fueling Oregon’s highest-in-the-country fentanyl and meth use, addiction and death rate, rampant crime and cartel control, and record homelessness in the 4th District. I’m running for Congress because career politicians like Val Hoyle are derelict in addressing the crisis we face as a nation. Hoyle is making it worse, even rationalizing it, rather than solving it.”
Hoyle’s controversial comments are consistent with her pro-open borders voting record. In just over a year, she voted against H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, voted against against the Laken Riley Act, voted twice against impeaching Biden’s Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and even voted to house illegal immigrants in national parks, forests, and public lands.
“Val Hoyle’s extreme, racist comments represent her latest dereliction of duty fueling the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesperson Ben Petersen told Breitbart. “Hoyle’s radical views and votes are handcuffing law enforcement and endangering Oregon families with violent criminal illegal immigrants and fentanyl traffickers.”
RELATED: Kari Lake — Fentanyl Coming Across “Wide Open Border” Is a “Weapon of Mass Destruction”
Allegations of racial discrimination have followed Hoyle since her tenure as commissioner of Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries. Her term in that office has resulted in millions paid by Oregon taxpayers over racial discrimination already, most recently in December when the state settled a racial discrimination lawsuit and formally apologized for working conditions under Hoyle. In August of 2023, a jury awarded a staggering $1.7 million judgement to a victim of racial discrimination who worked under Hoyle.
The NRCC is targeting the scandal-engulfed Hoyle, seeking to turn the seat red next year.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.