A White House aide on Wednesday said The New York Times could hire “less-skilled, low-paid workers from other countries” if the media outlet disagrees with the administration’s new immigration policy.
“See how you feel about it then,” White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said.
Miller clashed with a New York Times reporter at the press briefing on Wednesday over the topic of new Republican legislation aimed at reducing legal immigration to the United States.
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Miller, who has long been among the president’s most influential advisers on immigration, made the case that U.S. workers have been harmed by U.S. immigration laws, which he said were being abused by companies who instead sought out cheap foreign labor for low-skill jobs.
“Let’s have some statistics,” Times reporter Glenn Thrush countered. “There have been a lot of studies out there that don’t show a correlation between low-skilled immigration and the loss of jobs for native workers.”
Thrush asked the White House to cite “specific numbers that prove the correlation between those two things because your entire policy is based on that.”
Miller ticked through several studies he said backed up the administration’s claims, which he said were also supported by “common sense.”
“I’m not asking for common sense,” Thrush responded. “I’m asking for specific statistical data.”
“I think it’s pretty clear Glenn that you’re not asking for common sense,” Miller shot back.
“Common sense is fungible, statistics are not,” said Thrush.
“Maybe we’ll make a carve-out in the bill that says The New York Times can hire all the less-skilled, low-paid workers from other countries and see how you feel about it then,” Miller responded.