A RINO GOP lawmaker has come under fire after brazenly calling for illegal immigrant workers to be used to bolster the United States economy, making her case to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that the country’s economy would not survive President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, which led conservatives to take her argument apart online.
For context, during a hearing with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) subverted the MAGA agenda by calling for an expansion of low-wage foreign labor as a means of keeping illegal immigrants in the United States, which led many conservatives to criticize her argument and call her out for effectively stabbing President Trump in the back.
During the hearing, Rep. Salazar proposed her idea of expanding migrant labor to Powell by saying, “We do know that…we’re losing thousands and thousands of workers, what the ICE leadership has called collateral damage.” She added, “Most of the people are working in three main sectors: construction, hospitality, and agriculture.” The congresswoman then clarified, “We’re talking about 15% of the economy.”
In response to Rep. Salazar’s initial comments, Powell said that his agency could not be held responsible for the impact of President Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown on the workforce, saying, “So, immigration is another area where nobody put us in charge. We, we’re done.” He added, “Congressional Budget Office and other agencies can make assessments like that. You know…we do have a role to maximize employment.”
Unwilling to let up, the congresswoman then implied that the labor of illegal immigrants was essential for the American economy to survive and expand, saying, “We want to continue growing. We’re the number one economy in the world.” She added, “If we don’t have those hands, then we don’t grow.”
Attempting to defend his agency, Powll explained, “Well, there are two things that affect growth. One is growth in the labor force, more people working, and the other thing is productivity.” He added, “How much, how much do they produce per hour worked?” Powell went on to clarify, “But I think, again, it’s not for us to have a view on immigration policy.”
In response to Rep. Salazar’s brazen attempts to subvert President Trump’s agenda, conservatives were outraged online, leaving highly critical comments after Rep. Salazar posted a video of the hearing on her X account. An X user with the handle Paul wrote, “You really think this is a good argument to make. How about stop exploiting people and legislate a reasonable work visa program that doesn’t enslave and marginalize these people…”
"*" indicates required fields
Continuing his powerful critique of the congresswoman’s argument, the X commenter said, “All you care about is your donors having cheap labor…if you worked a little harder they they could have affordable labor and people wouldn’t be living in the margins of society.” In a similar vein, another X user wrote, “So you, too, prefer to support ILLEGAL ALIENS, over Americans? Ok then. Good to know.”
Watch a clip from the hearing:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video