AOC Rants About ‘Defending the American Dream’ by Making It Easier for People to Come to the U.S.

Ocasio-Cortez: “I’d like to submit this article from PBS Newshour to the record, Mr. Chair.”
CHAIR: “Yes.”
Ocasio-Cortez: “Thank you. Now, what we have here is that there are even some lawmakers in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, and Iowa that are proposing the loosening of child labor laws in their state, because they have so many jobs that are left unfulfilled. We have seen teenagers dying in states like Wisconsin, Missouri, and Michigan, because so many jobs are going unfilled, and many of these Republican legislatures would rather roll back child labor laws, and put 11 and 13-year-olds back in the workplace than allow immigrants into their community and do what they’ve always done. Mr. Bier, let’s say 50 years ago, would you say that it would be easier that the United States perhaps had a — had a — an easier immigration, more orderly immigration, perhaps an easier immigration policy then then say now?”
BIER: “No, I don’t think it was any easier back then, it was pretty much the same. We had a pretty much stagnation for a century when it comes to legal immigration policy in the United States.”
Ocasio-Cortez: “So we’ve had stagnation. When we go back maybe 100 years, what would you say?”
BIER: “Look, before the Immigration Act of 1924, the United States had a process whereby if you are not a criminal, you are not a public charge, you could come into the United States and — and work and live indefinitely. Anyone in the world could come to our country, except for the Chinese.”
Ocasio-Cortez: “Yes.”
BIER: “But for the most part, anyone in the world could come.”
Ocasio-Cortez: “And so that was the standing immigration policy about 100 years ago. Meaning that unless you are an — an African-American member of this body, unless you are a descendant from Puerto Rico, Guam or U.S. territory, virtually every single member of this committee is here today, as a result of and thanks to more open U.S. immigration policies. And the idea of slamming the door when we desperately need these migrants, when we desperately need it, and what we need is an orderly process. We want — it’s not that we don’t need or want folks to come, it’s that we actually have to make it easier for these individuals to participate in our economy, get a job, support themselves, and live the American dream. And what this — what this conversation is about, is about defending the American dream. We cannot allow that to change. And that’s why Democrats in Congress are using immigration policy and advocating for immigration policy that can — that can be documented, that people can get a job, put a shirt on their back, support their kids without being a public charge and defend the very soul of what it means to be an American. And with that, I yield back.”