Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, has staked out a hardline position in favor of open borders and giving amnesty to 11 to 20 million illegal immigrants – but he wasn’t always that way.
He gave a speech on illegal immigration a few years ago that sounded just every bit as tough and patriotic as President Donald Trump.
Now Schumer’s head is spinning, trying to keep the video from getting out.
Just after Barack Obama became president, Schumer and his “Gang of 8” made amnesty his top priority.
But he knew that voters had no interest in “a path to citizenship” for the millions upon millions of people who are in this country illegally – so he tried sounding as hard-on-crime as possible.
Schumer even used the phrase “illegal aliens” repeatedly – in a meeting with Hispanic leaders in June 2009, when he chaired the Senate immigration committee.
“People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the United States legally,” Schumer said.
“You’re not going to hear me use the words ‘undocumented workers,’” he continued.
Today, he uses that term constantly, and the legal term “alien” is considered “racist.” But Schumer pretended to see the light back then.
“When we use phrases like ‘undocumented workers,’ we convey a message to the American people that their government is not serious about combating illegal immigration, which the American people overwhelmingly oppose,” the New York Democrat said.
For fun, Fox News put together a video compilation of Schumer’s 2009 speech on one side with videos of Trump today – and they sound like they’re reading off the same script.
“They are saying the same thing, only the president gets louder applause,” Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade said.
For instance, Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo in 2015 “this country is so politically correct” that politicians “like to use the word ‘undocumented,’ because it’s more political.”
“I don’t use that word,” Trump said. “They’re illegal immigrants.”
Both said that the American people want “common sense” solutions, like putting border security first.
Schumer has spouted tough rhetoric when it suited him politically – like when he told “Meet the Press” that “15,000 people cross our border illegally every day. Most of them take jobs from Americans.”
Trump could hardly say it any better: “While there are many illegal immigrants in our country who are good people, this doesn’t change the fact that most illegal immigrants are lower-skilled workers with less education who compete directly against vulnerable American workers,” Trump told a 2016 campaign rally in Arizona.
Chuck Schumer “sounds like he is running for a job in the Trump administration,” said Jessica Vaughn of the Center for Immigration Studies.
But Schumer would turn on a dime, calling illegal immigration “one of the greatest civil rights movements we’ve ever seen” in 2013.
If they sounded so much alike just a few years ago, why did Schumer suddenly change his tune?
“I think Chuck Schumer will say anything if he thinks it will get a bill through,” Vaughn said.
Democrats like Schumer “are so rattled by President Trump that they are adopting these policies to throw barbs at him, rather than get at a solution for our country that most Americans would support.”
Schumer pushed so-called “comprehensive immigration reform” – open borders and amnesty for all illegal immigrants – multiple times during the George W. Bush presidency. Then he tried – and failed – again under Obama.
Schumer even admitted in 2009 that “the reason the bill failed is the American people didn’t have faith that there wouldn’t be a future wave of illegal immigrants if we passed that bill.”
So, he started talking like Sheriff Joe Apraio in public – and wheeling-and-dealing for open borders like former Senator Ted Kennedy.
Schumer’s inside advisers knew it was all an act.
“He’s talking tough because he wants to be seen as a law-and-order Democrat who really wants to end illegal immigration,” said pro-illegal immigration activist Frank Sharry, who leads the group America Voice.
But in Washington, Schumer is focused on “winning the votes of conservative Democrats and gettable Republicans” for amnesty Sharry said.
Now, Democrats have become so deranged and polarized that they can’t back down.
“I think a lot of this politicization took place under the Obama administration, where the policies moved so far away from common sense and protecting the integrity of our legal immigration system,” Vaughn said. “It’s been hard for the Democrats to find their way back to the mainstream on this, and clearly that’s what voters rejected: that identity politics-driven, anti-borders approach.”
“Certainly, I think President Trump is sincere and consistent, but Chuck Schumer has not been consistent, clearly,” she said.
You can watch the full video here.
Frank Holmes is a reporter for The Horn News. He is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”