Rep. Raúl Labrador was treated to a rude surprise on Tuesday when he appeared on conservative pundit Laura Ingraham’s radio show to talk up his tea party credentials as part of his longshot bid to become the next House majority leader.
Instead the Idaho Republican — who has worked hard over the last eight months to block any House action on immigration — was attacked by the host for being too pro-immigration.
Labrador blamed President Barack Obama’s “lawlessness” for the recent influx of thousands of unauthorized children, saying they “absolutely” need to be deported “immediately.” He said he strongly opposes “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants but called for fixing the legal immigration system with a guest worker program.
“We do need to have a guest worker program,” he said.
That’s when things got heated. Ingraham asked Labrador to sign the so-called FAIR pledge to restrict new flows of immigration — legal or illegal — into the country, and he declined, saying he supports legal immigration.
“So you’re where [Eric] Cantor is, because he won’t [sign it] either,” Ingraham retorted.
Labrador defended himself: “I have made it very clear for the last year that we shouldn’t even have a bill for immigration reform in the House of Representatives. I was the first one who said that. I said that publicly.”
Ingraham shot back: “Their wages are flatlining and their standard of living is deteriorating and yet you want to bring in more guest workers and foreign workers into the economy. Why? … So the Americans are too lazy — they’re not creating any jobs? We just need foreign workers?”
“You’re just wasting your time and you’re squandering your conservative bona fides in the process,” she said.
Labrador’s grilling by Ingraham — who helped whip up opposition to Cantor over immigration reform — revealed how little room Republicans have to address the issue before they begin to anger the right-wing faithful. Early last year, the second-term congressman worked with a bipartisan group to arrive at an immigration reform deal, but he quit over disagreements about legalizing undocumented immigrants. Since the government shutdown in October he has repeatedly pushed Republicans to refuse to act at all on immigration this year.
Labrador and Ingraham ended the interview on a positive note, with both of them noting that they agree on the vast majority of issues.
Well, we gotta love it when bubbles collide! Is Ingraham really so stupid that she believes that legal immigrants and those on workers visas are taking jobs that Americans want or are qualified for?
What happened when the migrant workers did not show up to pick tomatoes in Alabama a few years ago? How long did workers from local towns and cities last in those fields hmmmmm? 1 day? 2?
What about the year that the migrants failed to show up to pick Washington’s apple crop? Same story different crop and state.
The West coast is seeing a serious shortage of farm laborers due to both the fog over immigration and rising wages in Mexico. Food prices are rising to reflect that.
And then we have the tech workers here on I9 visas. Without them America would be slipping in technological innovation instead of leading.
The reality is that Americans no longer are willing to do stoop labor, it’s too hard on our fat little bodies and quite frankly it’s beneath our dignity! And while American kids are enamored of electronic games very few want to take the match and science courses necessary to become technical innovators.
I occasionally meet an young American with a masters or PhD in the hard sciences but it’s increasingly rare.
If idiots like Ingraham had their way America would become a nation of easily managed lazy compliant people addicted to Faux Snooze, eating institutionally prepared microwave meals who are very angry at all them there ferriners what did this to them.
Ingraham doesn’t believe in letting wages be decided by the free market?
It’s scary to see and hear just how a radio talker creates republican party policy from the comfort of a TV studio… Labrador will of course fold, even though he was for immigration reform but will soon be against it
Exactly, the Republican leaders are all on Fox and Clear Channel, not Congress.
Funny, I always thought lawlessness was the ultimate goal of these conservative types.