CNN’s Jim Acosta went on a rampage during yesterday’s press briefing toward Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller while he was discussing the RAISE Act, an immigration reform bill.
“This is the largest proposed reform to our immigration policy in half a century,” Miller began. “The most important question when it comes to the U.S. immigration system is who gets a green card. A green card is the golden ticket of U.S. immigration.”
Immigration reform has been, since the campaign began, one of the areas of main concern for the President Donald Trump and his administration. For some odd reason, it continues to be the most partisan issue out there, and liberal journalists are losing their objectivity over the issue.
Jim Acosta made it very clear to Advisor Miller that the RAISE Act was just not going to cut it from his point of view.
As he continuously interrupted Miller, Acosta attempted to paint the picture of racism. He even mentioned the poem engraved on the Statue of Liberty.
“Aren’t you trying to change what it means to be an immigrant coming into this country if you’re telling them you have to speak English? Can’t people learn how to speak English when they get here? [The poem] doesn’t say anything about speaking English or being able to be a computer programmer,” Acosta said.
Miller responded promptly, stating that “Well, first of all, right now it’s a requirement that to be naturalized you have to speak English. So the notion that speaking English wouldn’t be a part of our immigration system would be actually very ahistorical.”
But Acosta was not pleased with his answer, so he persisted. The highlight of the exchange was soon to follow,
Acosta said at some point, “This whole notion of ‘well, they have to learn English before they get to the United States,’ are we just going to bring in people from Great Britain and Australia?”
Miller responded with a rhetorical death blow by saying, “This is an amazing moment. This an amazing moment. That you think only people from Great Britain or Australia would speak English is so insulting to millions of hardworking immigrants who do speak English from all over the world.”
Miller: 1, Acosta: 0.
Other than this slightly humorous but rather heated exchange between the Senior White House correspondent and Trump’s Senior Policy Advisor, Miller did a glorious job at breaking down the purpose of the RAISE Act.
At the beginning of his speech, prior to the question-and-answer portion, Miller began by saying, “Every year we issue a million green cards to foreign nationals from all the countries of the world, but we do so without regard to whether that applicant has demonstrated the skill that can add to the U.S. economy.”
“And as a result of this policy in place now for many years,” he continued. “We’ve seen significant reductions in wages for blue collar workers, massive displacement of African American and Hispanic workers, as well as the displacement of immigrant workers from previous years who oftentimes compete directly against new arrivals who are being paid even less.”
Miller made it very clear what the intentions of the RAISE Act would be. For one, limiting family-based migration to spouses and children; meaning that those individuals that are currently in the United States on green cards would not be eligible to bring in a relative–let’s say an elderly one–that would be unable to support themselves and likely have to go on public assistance, he explained.
Furthermore, there would be a point system implemented similar to that of Australia’s or Canada’s immigration system.
“It will look at: Does the applicant speak English? Can they support themselves and their families financially? Do they have a skill that will add to the U.S. economy? Are they being paid a high wage?,” Miller stated.
But the final and most important aspect of this bill would be preventing worker displacement in the United States by “putting upward pressure on wages instead of downward pressure.”
“So if a company [is] offering three times the median wage, that person will get more points on their application than if they’re being offered two times the median wage or one time the median wage,” Miller said. “By prioritizing higher paid workers, you basically end the practice, more or less, of being able to seek out permanent residents to come in at lower pay.”
Coming from a conservative perspective, it seems like a common sense policy to implement. But then again, Trump’s Administration will never be able to please everyone, specifically the mainstream media… and, of course, Jim Acosta.
