(Above: Sen. Jeff Sessions discusses immigration reform with Gretchen Carlson)
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., appeared on Fox News Channel’s “The Real Story w/Gretchen Carlson” today and encouraged House Republicans to oppose comprehensive immigration reform that would expand America’s guest worker program.
“We really do have a huge problem,” Sessions told Carlson. “We have the lowest percentage of Americans actually working today than since 1975. Wages have declined in America relative to inflation since 2000. American working people are hurting. Many of the jobs created today are part-time. So it makes no sense to me at all to see a dramatic increase in the legal flow of immigration while we’re not even reducing the illegal flow.”
President Obama is expected to focus on immigration reform and income inequality in his State of the Union address tomorrow night, but Sessions said he doubts the president will discuss the damaging effects his immigration proposals could have on American workers.
“I think it is a huge problem and I think the president needs to talk about it tomorrow,” Sessions quipped, “but I doubt that he will.”
But the President is not Sessions’ main concern. Alabama’s junior senator said he’s most worried that Republican leaders in the House will go along with what the president is trying to do.
“Republicans in the House need to stand up for the American worker,” Sessions said firmly. “Their interests are being ignored. The big government groups, the special interest groups, the lobbying groups — they’re all out in full force. Somebody needs to stand up for [the workers]. The Party that does that will be rewarded by the American people in elections… The right thing is to slow down the growth of this immigration flow into America, create a lawful system, make sure the people who come here are able to prosper here and it serves our national interests… and make no apology for making sure we’re not going to flood this nation with more workers than we have jobs for.”
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