White House senior adviser Stephen Miller shut down New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush during Wednesday’s press briefing and proposed that an immigration bill include a provision requiring the Times to hire unskilled workers.
Miller, an immigration hawk and former aide to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, appeared at the briefing to promote the RAISE Act. The Senate bill is supported by the White House and would reform the American immigration system to benefit skilled workers. The senators sponsoring the legislation estimate it would cut immigration by 50 percent over ten years.
Thrush asked Miller at the briefing to cite statistics to back up his premise that low-skilled immigration hurts American workers, and Miller referenced a recent study by Harvard labor economist Jorge Borjas. Borjas debunked a highly-cited study that claimed that a wave of Cuban immigrants in Miami had no effect on native workers.
Miller also went on to cite studies by the Center for Immigration Studies’ Steven Camarota and Peter Kirsanow of the American Civil Rights Commission. However, this wasn’t enough for Thrush who told Miller that he wanted statistics, not the name of studies. The White House aide went on to cite a statistic and then added, “But let’s also use common sense here, folks. At the end of the day, why do special interests want to bring in more low skilled workers?”
Thrush continued to insist for more statistics, and the senior adviser lashed back, “Maybe we’ll make a carve-out in the bill that says The New York Times can hire all the less skilled, low paid workers from other countries and see how you feel about low wage substitution.”
“Maybe it’s time we had compassion, Glenn, for American workers,” Miller added.
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