Sessions says employment-based immigration moratorium is 'no doubt ...in the interest of the United States'
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Former Attorney General and current Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Sessions joined "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Thursday to explain his proposal for a moratorium on employment-based immigration until America's unemployment rate recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
"We have about 1.4 million people that come to this country every year to take jobs. We just announced today 5 million more people on the unemployment roll ... 22 million now [since mid-March]. There is no doubt it is in the interest of the United States of America to make sure that we get every one of those unemployed American jobs first," Sessions said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK STATE-BY-STATE
"I mean, it's psychologically devastating to a person not to have work," he added. "It undermines their well-being and family. But in addition, we have to help them financially if they're unemployed, whether it's Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, unemployment insurance."
"So why bring in foreign workers to take those jobs when we should do everything possible ... to get American workers that are unemployed in those jobs?" Sessions asked.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sessions, who faces former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville in a GOP runoff election this coming July for the right to contest his old Senate seat, told Tucker Carlson that most Americans agree with him.
"I think the polls, almost 90 percent [say] that if there's a choice between who should get a job, the American should get the job over a foreigner. Give me a break. How simple is that?" Sessions said. "Who do we owe our responsibility to as government and public officials? It's to the American people first."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sessions singled out soon-to-be college graduates as an example of a group that could benefit from a moratorium as the pandemic ravages the U.S. economy.
"It's a scary time, it is very scary, and we need to be very alert to the dangers. Think about a college graduate [who] in May, will be graduating. What kind of prospects do they have?" Sessions said. "We have almost 500,000 tech workers that come to America. Can't we figure out a way to make sure that our kids with maybe college debts get those jobs first before we bring in foreigners?"