The Patriot Post® · Miller Gets 'Acosted'

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/50602-miller-gets-acosted-2017-08-04

Trump Senior Policy Adviser Stephen Miller stepped up to the podium Wednesday in the White House Briefing Room to answer questions about the RAISE Act, legislation reforming the nation’s legal immigration system. He ended up getting accosted by a left-wing “attack dog” from the Clinton News Network, Jim Acosta.

Their epic exchange is a perfect example of the division between Left and Right. It is also clear evidence that many so-called “journalists” are not unbiased reporters of facts, but active combatants on one side of America’s culture war.

It is worth noting here that Stephen Miller was a top aide to former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, who led the conservative resistance to previous amnesty bills in Congress. Miller knows immigration policy like the back of his hand. In this battle of wits, Acosta showed up unarmed.

Here’s how Acosta started his questioning:

The Statue of Liberty says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to be free.” It doesn’t say anything about speaking English… Aren’t you trying to change what it means to be an immigrant coming into this country, if you are telling them you have to speak English?

Miller noted that poems don’t make policy and that current policy requires English proficiency for naturalization. Unfortunately, previous administrations of both parties have ignored the law. That is why we have to print ballots in dozens of foreign languages. The Trump administration should start enforcing the English requirement for naturalization ASAP.

It wasn’t long before Acosta started pontificating about “the wall,” even though the issue at hand was reforming our LEGAL immigration system. Miller asked, “Do you really at CNN not know the difference between [legal immigration] policy and illegal immigration?”

Acosta then returned to harping on the bill’s English requirement, asking, “Are we just going to bring in people from Great Britain and Australia?” Miller unloaded with both barrels:

I have to honestly say I am shocked at your statement that you think that only people from Great Britain and Australia would know English. It reveals your cosmopolitan bias to a shocking degree… Jim, have you honestly never met an immigrant from another country who speaks English outside of Great Britain and Australia?

Predictably, Acosta played the race card, saying the legislation was “trying to engineer the racial and ethnic flow of people into this country through this policy.” Miller fired back:

Jim, that is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant, and foolish things you’ve ever said… The reality is that the foreign-born population into our country has quadrupled since 1970. That’s a fact… The people who have been hurt the most by the [open borders] policy you’re advocating are immigrant workers and minority workers and African American workers and Hispanic workers.

You can watch their exchange here.

Once again, I was struck by just how out-of-touch the Left is with Main Street. Polling shows that more than 80% of Americans support English as our national language. But many immigrants are not learning English, even those who have been here for a decade or more.

It is telling that on everything that defines a nation, the Left and our elites see these fundamental values as a hindrance to their radical agenda, an agenda which the American people reject.

Those Canadian Bigots

Not surprisingly, House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi is no fan of the RAISE Act. Pelosi parroted Acosta’s criticism, blasting the legislation as “hateful” and “senseless,” claiming that it “instills fear in our communities, weakens our nation, and dishonors our values.”

Responding to Ms. Pelosi’s criticism, Sen. David Perdue (R-GA), a sponsor of the RAISE Act, said, “Anytime a liberal politician starts fear mongering, you know you’re on to something good. We’ve modeled this after Canada, for goodness sake!”

That’s right. Our progressive northern neighbors have a much more conservative, commonsense immigration policy than we do.

Thankfully, Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue have at least started a desperately needed conversation. Please call them at (202) 224-3121 and thank them for their leadership.

The Case for a Special Prosecutor

A strong case is being made for the appointment of a special prosecutor, and I don’t mean the media’s obsession with Russia. As for Robert Mueller, my good friend Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) makes a very compelling case for why Mueller should resign.

We need a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton.

Judicial Watch has discovered yet another trove of Clinton emails, this time from Hillary’s top aide, Huma Abedin. The fact that we are still finding Hillary’s emails proves that James Comey’s investigation was incomplete at best, if not incompetent.

According to Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch’s president, these new emails reveal patterns of “Pay to play, classified information mishandling, influence peddling [and] cover ups.” Fitton continued, “It’s hard to tell where the Clinton State Department ended and the Clinton Foundation began. It was almost like a seamless operation.”

On Fox & Friends Thursday morning, Judge Andrew Napolitano said that the statute of limitations has not expired and Hillary could still be prosecuted. He suggested that information be presented to a grand jury and let’s see what happens.

Kudos to Rubio

As the Senate attempts to pivot from health care reform to tax reform, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is pushing hard to incorporate policies that put America’s working families first. Specifically, Sen. Rubio wants to increase the per-child tax credit to $2,500.

You can read more about Rubio’s pro-family tax policies here.