A Democratic congressman went on a bizarre pro-immigration rant on the House floor, saying that without illegal migrant workers, the U.S. would have no one to pick the vegetables, an argument that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller described as “tired.”
For context, during a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement on January 12, 2024, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) made a case for allowing “many illegal immigrants” to come to the U.S.,” saying that without their work, there would be no one to pick vegetables and stop them from rotting.
During the hearing, which was focused on the “Impact of Illegal Immigration on Social Services,” Rep. Nadler said, “We need immigrants in this country,” going on to say, “Forget the fact that our vegetables would rot in the ground if they weren’t being picked by many immigrants.” He added, “Many illegal immigrants.”
Continuing, Rep. Nadler argued that America also would benefit from increased immigration due to “the fact is the birth rate in this country is way below replacement level, which means our population is going to start shrinking.” The representative added, “And the ratio of people on Social Security and Medicare is going to increase relative to the number of people supporting them.”
Predictably, Rep. Nadler’s argument did not fare well when it went viral online. In response to the congressman’s comments, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller shot back, “Yes, all the millions of illegals from 150+ countries spanning the globe are going to Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, New York, etc. to work in the fields.” He added, “What a tired, vapid, exhausted, and stupid cliche. Just utter nonsense.”
In another biting comment on X, the user 1 Pissed Off Patriot said that Rep. Nadler was really saying, “We need our slaves back,” comparing the pro-illegal immigration argument to the exploitation of African-American slaves and adding that Nadler was essentially saying, “This is the best way we can do it without actually calling them slaves.”
Furthermore, Rep. Nadler’s argument has been heard from other prominent Democrats in the past, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly saying that farmers in Florida need illegal immigrants to “pick the crops” and asserting that while “we have a responsibility to secure our border, we also have a responsibility to recognize the importance of newcomers to our nation.”
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In addition, Pelosi added that there was “a shortage of workers in our country,” referencing Florida farmers as allegedly saying, “‘Why are you shipping these immigrants up North? We need them to pick the crops down here.” According to press accounts, Kamala Harris has expressed similar sentiments as well, saying that “the border is secure” all the way back in 2022 and adding, “we also have a broken immigration system…and it needs to be fixed.”
Watch Rep. Nadler’s comments:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video