If you don’t have a maid, amnesty will hurt you -- or at least that’s what Ann Coulter thinks.
The political commentator spoke with HuffPost Live on Monday about her new book "Never Trust A Liberal Over 3: Especially A Republican" and why she believes amnesty will hurt the vast majority of Americans.
After Coulter expressed her fervent disapproval towards Republicans who are “attacking their own” and supporting amnesty, host Marc Lamont Hill asked whether she disagreed with the belief that the Republican party must take a moderate stance on immigration to survive.
“Completely, yes. Look the Republican party, unlike the Democratic party, has always been the party of the vast Middle Class... and the working class,” Coulter told HuffPost Live. “Whereas the Democrats have been the party of Hollywood, Wall St., the very rich and I suppose the very, very poor. And I just think that [with] amnesty you’re trampling on who the Republican party traditionally stands up for.”
The political pundit continued by saying that unless you’re someone who consistently hires low skilled workers, like business magnate Sheldon Adelson, then immigration reform doesn’t benefit you.
“I always tell people if you’re not sure what your position on amnesty is ask yourself ‘do I have a maid, a chauffeur, a nanny, a cook, a gardener, a pool boy?’ because if you don’t have all those things amnesty, or actually even the legal immigration that we’ve been having, because it’s mostly low skilled workers, it’s a net loss for you. You’re making up for the low wages being paid by Sheldon Adelson.”
Coulter’s statement stands in stark contrast to reports which argue that immigration reform will not only help the U.S. economy but also U.S.-born workers.
In January, an economic policy initiative known as the Hamilton Project found that native workers would see an average 0.1 and 0.6 percent boost in wages if there was an increase in immigration. In fact it was the skills that immigrant workers had, which complements those of U.S.-born workers, that would lead to new jobs according to the report.
Experts have also argued that the U.S. economy as whole would also profit from an immigration overhaul. According to CNBC, UCLA professor and author of “The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform” Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda estimates that immigration reform would boost GDP by $1.5 trillion over 10 years.
When Hill addressed the functional reasons for immigration, Coulter dismissed the statement saying that immigrants were taking advantage of the welfare system.
“This is not an argument against all immigration but up until fairly recently immigrants would come here looking for a better life, if they couldn’t make it they’d go home... as [Economist] Milton Friedman said, you can’t have open borders and a welfare state.”
Watch a clip of the interview above and the full segment here.
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