Republican Congressman Dan Donovan was torn apart by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Tuesday after he refused to debunk the Trump administration myth that Dreamers – undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children – are stealing American jobs.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes asked the GOP representative whether someone brought here at age five is stealing U.S. jobs if they are now working as an EMT or serving in the military.
Donovan couldn’t find it in him to say a simple word: No.
Video:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
GOP Congressman couldn’t find it in him to say, no, Dreamers are not taking American jobs. #DACA pic.twitter.com/0w7xhppIrt
— Sean Colarossi (@SeanColarossi) September 6, 2017
Hayes asked whether the Republican representative agrees with the myth, and Donovan quickly dodged, saying, “I agree that there are immigration policies and our laws here are broken, Chris, and they have to be fixed.”
When pressed by Hayes, the Republican congressman again refused to answer the question, and took a different angle, saying that he does not believe that Dreamers have intentionally broken any laws – another refusal to debunk the offensive and racially driven Trump myth that immigrants steal U.S. jobs.
But as The New York Times noted last year, citing a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, immigrants do not steal U.S. jobs or deflate wages for American workers.
“We found little to no negative effects on overall wages and employment of native-born workers in the longer term,” said Francine D. Blau, a Cornell University economics professor who led the report.
Once again, Donald Trump is perpetuating an offensive lie and stirring up minority resentment to please his base, and Republican members of Congress are too spineless to reject it.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
