Sen. Cruz on Fox News: ‘Our Priority Needs to be Keeping People Safe and Helping Americans Get Their Jobs Back’
HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Fox News' ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight' spoke about President Trump's decision to temporarily halt legal immigration as the country works to stop the spread of the coronavirus, safely re-open the economy, and get the American people back to work.
WATCH: Cruz on Tucker Carlson: Right Now We Need to Keep Americans Safe & Help Them Get Their Jobs Back
As Sen. Cruz said during the interview:
"We ought to have two priorities. Protecting American lives and protecting American jobs. I think halting legal immigration for 60 days makes perfect sense in accomplishing both of those."
Discussing the need to first help the 22 million Americans currently out of work as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic shutdown that has followed, Sen. Cruz added:
"We have 22 million Americans who filed for unemployment in the last four weeks. The whole purpose of legal immigration is supposed to benefit the economy. When you have 22 million Americans out of work, they need to get the jobs. We don't need to be bringing in a million plus workers when 22 million Americans are out of work. In a tight labor market, the calculus would be different. But this is a crisis and we need to get Americans back to work. I think halting bringing in legal immigration, and I say this as a son of a legal immigrant. I believe in legal immigration as long as it benefits jobs. But when you have a catastrophe unfolding, bringing in millions of additional workers before the Americans get hired, that doesn't make any sense."
He continued, reinforcing the need to halt all legal immigration to preserve jobs during a crisis with a double-digit unemployment rate:
"It's one thing three months ago when we had an exceptionally tight market. When we had three percent unemployment, when the economy was booming. It was one thing to make an argument that we need skilled workers. And I'm a big believer in shifting legal immigration to a skills based immigration system. Where we bring in people who can generate jobs and help the economy. I think that's a strength of our country. That people want to be here. But it's a different situation when you're in a crisis. When people are being laid off in massive numbers. [...] people need jobs throughout the economy right now. I think our priority needs to be to keep people safe and help Americans get their jobs back."
Over the weekend, Sen. Cruz wrote an op-ed for the Dallas Morning News discussing the importance of helping Texans return safely to work. Read the op-ed here.
WATCH: Sen. Cruz Discusses Re-Opening the Economy on Yahoo Finance
LISTEN: Sen. Cruz on The Ben Shapiro Show: We Have Got to Get the American People Back to Work
For COVID-19 information and additional resources, visit www.cruz.senate.gov/coronavirus/.
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