Rare News Desk
Breitbart hosted a town hall on Sirius XM Wednesday where guest Sen. Rand Paul offered an illegal immigration solution that sounded different than many of his conservative colleagues.
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Paul suggested increasing the amount of legal immigration to the United States as a way to discourage illegal immigration.
Breitbart reports:
While in favor of steps to increase border security, Paul argued that legal immigration — tied to the needs of the U.S. — also can play a part in reducing illegal immigration.
“I also would have a work program, have legal immigration, and I would have it sufficient to match what we do need in the country,” he said. “And if you have sufficient legal immigration, you don’t have illegal immigration. And then really there is this balance and less of a need for, you know, razor wire.”
Paul also said that a “100 foot wall” was probably not necessary for the entire border with Mexico. Paul instead suggested deploying a combination of electronic sensors and helicopters to monitor the border.
The senator and presidential candidate also dismissed current Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s immigration and trade proposals such as building a border wall, “bringing back from China”, and banning Muslim immigration. Paul, according to Breitbart, said those proposals had nothing to do with “limited government or balanced budget.”
Paul pointed out that he was not an open borders supporter. He quoted libertarian economist Milton Friedman who said you cannot have open borders and a welfare state. Friedman was welcoming of immigration.
Despite evidence that illegal immigration is down, immigrants do not depress the wages of native workers, and immigrants create jobs; Republican voters have adopted an increasingly anti-immigrant attitude.
Polling in June from Pew Research Center found that 42 percent of Republicans favor decreasing legal immigration to the U.S.
