During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley confronted American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick on how flooding the job market with illegal immigrants benefits Americans.
Melnick had claimed in October that widespread deportation would harm numerous American industries, including hospitality, construction, and agriculture.
During a heated discussion with Melnick during a hearing on President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation strategy, Hawley stated that Democrats intend to continue harming the economy and driving down wages by allowing illegal immigrants to work in the United States.
“Why would you want American citizens and those who are here lawfully to have to compete against illegal immigrants who by the way are not always paid minimum wage, who are not given the federally mandated benefits precisely because they are here illegally. Why would you want to drive down the wages of millions of working Americans who can’t get those jobs in construction, infrastructure and hospitality because illegal immigrants are getting them [and] suppressing wages in the meantime. Why would you want to do that?” Hawley asked. “I read your testimony word for word, and I’ve been watching it and I know what the answer is. You don’t actually care about working people because you’re absolutely hellbent on this ideological agenda of opening our border.”
Melnick stated that he supports a “path to citizenship” for individuals who pass background checks and pay a fine, prompting Hawley to claim that he wants illegal aliens to take American people’s jobs and “drive down the labor force.”
“So just if you’re wondering America, here’s the Democrats’ plan,” Hawley continued. “Take the 13 million plus illegals who are here taking jobs from Americans, taking wages down, taking healthcare benefits, and bring them here legally so they can continue to drive down wages, flood the labor force, and suppress all of the above.”
“Senator Hawley, they can’t flood the labor force if they’re already part of the labor force which is an economic issue today,” Melnick replied, leading the senator to exclaim that they are currently flooding the labor force.
Hawley and Melnick then sparred about how illegal immigrants’ labor has affected working-class wages, with the attorney claiming that wages have risen as a result.
“Oh really they’ve gone up over the past 15 years? They’re up? Yeah, they’re down. Way down. What world do you live in? … Let me just end with this. The American people had a good look at your economic record and then voted against it,” Hawley said.
Trump has promised to increase mass deportations and fortify the US-Mexico border if elected. According to CNBC, immigrants accounted for 18.6% of the labor force in 2023, prompting some pro-immigrant campaigners to warn that deportations will undermine the economy.
According to CNBC, Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt believes Trump will fulfill his vow to “deport migrant criminals” and return “economic greatness.”
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, immigrant labor puts “downward pressure” on hourly and weekly wages for American workers, particularly those with only a high school diploma or less.