By: Amy Payne From: Heritage.org
What’s wrong with the Gang of Eight’s immigration plan?
Heritage President Jim DeMint's response:
“It’s unfair, it costs too much, and it’s going to make the problem worse.”
On “The Kudlow Report” April 30, DeMint told host Larry Kudlow that it’s important to focus on what we know about the bill—not merely what is promised for the future.
“I’ve heard a lot of promises about bills that have gone through Congress,” DeMint said. “The only thing that I know about this bill is that it’s going to give legal status and eventual citizenship to those who came here unlawfully. The rest are just promises.”
He added that “people are just beginning to see what’s in the bill” and that “if it was as simple as they said it was, it wouldn’t be over 800 pages.”
The priority needs to be fixing the immigration system so that it “works for Americans.”
“Lawful immigration is good for our economy. It’s good for our culture. And that’s what we need to make sure works better in the future,” DeMint said.
DeMint explained that the cost of amnesty for unlawful immigrants is something American taxpayers cannot bear.
"Any nominal growth that comes from this bill, Larry, is going to be more than offset by the trillions of dollars of costs when these folks reach retirement age, get on Medicare, Social Security. These programs are already broke. Our country is already $17 trillion in debt. This will be a net loss, a huge cost to taxpayers. And it’s not fair to the 4 million people waiting around the world to come here legally. Let’s fix the system that caused this problem before we reward those who came here unlawfully."
