'We Treat International Students Like Criminals!': Jerry Nadler Blasts Trump's Immigration Agenda

Forbes Breaking News

During a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) rebuked President Trump's immigration policies.

Transcript

00:00The chair recognizes Mr. Nadler.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:07Mr. Chairman, Republicans love to claim that while they oppose illegal immigration,

00:12they are for legal immigration.

00:14Yet the Trump administration is doing everything he can to slow down

00:17or entirely stop legal immigration to the United States.

00:20Would you agree with that, Mr. Naraster?

00:23Yeah. Yes.

00:24Under this administration, we've seen attacks on green card holders

00:27for exercising their free speech rights.

00:29We've seen a complete shutdown of the refugee program

00:32and a relentless assault on student visas.

00:34Would you agree with that?

00:35Absolutely, sir.

00:37The Department of State is revoking the visas of students in the United States

00:40without any transparency, while ICE is terminating the legal status of students

00:44and in some cases not even informing them of their respective institutions.

00:50Would you agree with that?

00:51That's absolutely true, and it's a total travesty.

00:54It is a poor way to run an immigration system,

00:56and it's bad for the United States that this is happening like that.

01:00According to recent reports, more than 1,800 students and recent graduates

01:04across 280 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked.

01:08Is that true?

01:09As far as I know in the most recent data I've seen, yes.

01:12This is changing, of course, all the time because the administration is so aggressively anti-legal immigration.

01:17It's hard to keep them up with the new numbers.

01:21Mr. Narasta, isn't it true that ever since World War II,

01:26the United States has followed a policy of attracting people from other countries to come and study in the United States,

01:33and that that policy has led to tremendous scientific, military, and computer advancements

01:37that have helped make America the strongest, most technologically developed country in the world?

01:42That's absolutely true.

01:43In fact, economist Charles Jones, who is one of the preeminent experts in economic growth,

01:48has found that the increase in technicians and scientists and engineers,

01:52largely a lot of it fueled by immigration in the post-World War II period,

01:55can explain about half of productivity growth up through the 1990s.

01:59A tremendous increase, which results in a tremendous increase in wages, in new inventions,

02:06and economic growth that has made all of our lives better.

02:09And you would agree, I assume, that we risk turning the greatest minds in the world away from the United States

02:14if we treat international students like criminals?

02:16That's absolutely one of the biggest risks and the things that worry me the most,

02:20is what genius entrepreneurs, like Elon Musk, or what great scientists,

02:26like the woman whose name escapes me right now but who helped discover the mRNA vaccine,

02:32are we turning away? What is the loss?

02:33Jennifer Doudna.

02:34I'm sorry?

02:35Jennifer Doudna.

02:36She is an incredible, brilliant genius whose work has helped save millions and millions of lives around the world.

02:45And if she weren't allowed in here, I just doubt that she would have been able to make those discoveries

02:50and contributions in a country like Hungary.

02:52Thank you. Now, Mr. Narasa, the replacement rate to keep a population steady is 2.1 births per woman.

03:02The rate in the United States is 1.6 per woman.

03:06Now, obviously, this will result eventually in fewer Americans.

03:12I think you mentioned that.

03:14What is the effect of having fewer and fewer Americans, more and more people of advancing age,

03:25to be supported by fewer people in prime earning years?

03:29The economic effects are devastating.

03:32They are much slower economic growth, slower wage growth.

03:35We can see an advanced example of this in East Asia, especially in the country of Japan,

03:41which has had lower fertility below replacement for decades now.

03:44It's no doubt that American fertility is below replacement.

03:48As you said, it will likely fall further.

03:50The only thing that is propelling growth in a good way and has for a long period of time is immigration to the United States.

03:58And I think supporting less immigration to the United States is the same as supporting a smaller America,

04:05with fewer Americans, a less dynamic economy, and one where we have less of a footprint in the world.

04:10And I think that's tragedy.

04:11And one where more people of working age have to support...

04:15I'm sorry.

04:16Fewer people of working age have to support more people of advanced age threatening our social security system.

04:24That's right. It definitely exacerbates the insolvency issues with social security and Medicare.

04:31It will bring on those problems faster and in a more severe way.

04:36One of the best ways to maintain...

04:38And even the Social Security Administration acknowledges this when they model out their social security predictions.

04:44Expanding legal immigration does help extend the life of these programs.

04:49And what do we risk losing if the United States becomes perceived as a less welcoming destination for international students?

04:56I think the United States will lose one of the great selling points and attractions for this country.

05:02The attraction of opportunity that has enticed so many of our ancestors to come here over the centuries.

05:09Part of what it means to be an American and in this country is the openness to immigration.

05:15That has been part of our history forever.

05:17We are all the products of that.

05:19This wonderful, vast country is a product of it.

05:21There are a hundred times more Americans today than when this country was founded.

05:25We are better off because of it.

05:27And I want to see a future with more Americans.

05:29Thank you. My time has expired. I yield back.

05:31Thank you, sir.

05:32The chair recognizes Mr. Roy.

05:35Thank you, Chairman.

05:36I thank the chair for calling this hearing.

05:39You know, Mr.

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