Elections

Carly: Legal Immigration Should Decrease, Not Increase

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Rachel Stoltzfoos Staff Reporter
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Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Tuesday legal immigration is as big of a problem as illegal immigration in the United States, and that it should decrease, not increase.

“It’s not just that we have people sneaking across the border, it’s not just that we have sanctuary cities, it’s not just that our border is insecure,” Fiorina said on the “Laura Ingraham Show.” “Our legal immigration system has been a problem for 25 years now. It truly has.”

Ingraham asked Fiorina to comment on the influx of legal immigrants in recent decades, and specifically to a report Tuesday that a record number of Americans are not speaking English at home. “Who voted for that influx of legal immigrants into the United States?” Ingraham asked.

“Well, of course, nobody voted for it,” Fiorina replied. “And of course it is an illustration of the fact that our legal immigration system is as big a problem as anything else.”

“We let the wrong people in, we send the wrong people home,” she added. “And what this requires is a top to bottom examination of what is our immigration strategy.”

The share of the U.S. population that is foreign-born has jumped from 5 percent to a near-record 14 percent. By 2065, nearly one in five U.S. residents will be foreign-born. (RELATED: Pew Finds 1965 Immigration Law Exploded Foreign-Born Population)

Asked whether legal immigration should be increased or decreased, Fiorina said it should decrease and that current immigrants need help assimilating. “Of course, let’s be clear, this nation was built on immigration and wave after wave of immigrants have come to this country, and it has taken time for them to assimilate and learn the language,” she said.

“On the other hand, if there is no attempt at assimilation, if there is no requirement to learn English, than we are putting our melting pot, unique American culture, at risk,” she continued. “We need to have a serious conversation about this.”

“And, I think that’s what voters really are saying. It’s why they’re so angry.” (RELATED: Media Ignores Evidence Americans Want REDUCED Legal Immigration)

Fiorina slammed Disney in June for using the H-1b program to replace American workers with temporary guest workers, but admitted she did use the program as CEO of Hewlett-Packard. (RELATED: As Floridians Are Displaced, Rubio Demands More Workers)

With Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker out of the race, the only candidates talking about reducing legal immigration are Donald Trump, former Sen. Rick Santorum, and now Fiorina. Most of the Republican candidates want to allow the foreign-born population to continue soaring, or even further expand it.

A recent Pew poll found 67 percent of Republicans and 51 percent of all U.S.-born residents want to see reduced immigration. Even 30 percent of immigrants — nearly a third — want reduced immigration.

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