>> The Trump administration is actually making
it harder for legal immigrants to get a permanent
legal status.
I'm sorry, yes legal immigrants to get permanent
legal status in the US if they rely on food
stamps or subsidized housing.
The move will have the greatest impact on
immigrants who are living in the country legally.
And are likely to receive government benefits
making it much harder for people who are struggling
financially.
To win legal permanent status commonly known
as a green card, so they can remain in the
United States.
This is the latest policy of course by the
Trump administration hoping to restrict immigration.
The director of US Citizenship and Immigration
Services says this will allow the government
to insist that immigrants who come to the
country were self-sufficient.
And would not be a drain on society.
The moment I'm just so it's clear this new
rule would alter how the government decides
if someone is a public charge.
Allowing officials to deny green cards to
those who have used or will likely use the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
calmly know as SNAP food stamps.
Section 8 housing vouchers and assistance,
public housing or most forms of Medicaid.
Of course, Donald Trump himself has been extremely
open on his thoughts on this.
Take a look at this.
>> Priority will also be given to higher wage
workers ensuring we never undercut American
labor.
To protect benefits for American citizens,
immigrants must be financially self sufficient.
>> Yeah, if we, if we had had that standard,
we'd have almost no one in the country.
So we certainly wouldn't have any Irish in
the country.
They were running from a famine.
You know who's not rich when they get here?
People running from a famine, okay?
We wouldn't have any Irish, we wouldn't have
any Italians.
We wouldn't have any Jews, let alone the Chinese,
let alone African Americans.
>> Well, we'd still be here.
>> Yes, but certainly, we're not brought here
because of the wealth that associated with
you guys.
And of course, statue of liberty has this
quote.
Everybody used to be familiar with it, but
they've kinda buried it.
So look, there's a couple of problems here.
One is, I thought you guys were against undocumented
immigrants, no, they're against immigrants.
Second is talking about they're basically
not worthy of coming here if you're not rich.
So that's why I wanted to make sure that you
guys didn't know the court on the Statue of
Liberty that where we receive immigrants historically.
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled
masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched
refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to
me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
It's not unclear about the homeless, the wretched
refuse, the tired, the poor, the huddled masses.
And now Trump says give me your millionaires
and billionaires and corporate executives
yearning for tax shelters.
And we will bring them here but everybody
else you're not welcome.
And if you can't at least agree with our core
principles, you might be a little on American.
>> Just wanted to point out two more things.
So more than 4 million citizens, non citizens
excuse me, were in families that received
SNAP benefits between 2014 and 2016.
And I just have two quotes that I thought
were really important.
One is from Sara Pierce, she is an analyst
at the Migration Policy Institute saying It
will likely shift immigration away from Latin
America and towards Europe.
While disproportionately disadvantaging women,
children and the elderly Madalena in copy
is an executive director of the National Immigration
Law Center.
She said, it'll have dire humanitarian impact
forcing some families to forego critical life
saving healthcare and nutrition, and the damage
will be felt for decades to come.
So this doesn't stop people from coming, it
just stops people from asking for help when
they need it.
>> Yeah, but it was always gonna be set up
with this idea.
I mean, first of all, it's like, we're gonna
target illegals, right?
That's what they would always preface it by
saying.
And then you'd always see that ice would end
up detaining legal citizens.
And then saying, we didn't know, we're just
doing a thorough check.
It was kind of set up for the same purpose
which is to try and drive force this sense
of what tackling down on immigration.
But sooner or later we're gonna end up coming
for every in any immigrant who happens to
not fall into our idea by hours, I mean Trump's
idea of America.
But it goes back to the concept of what I
thought was supposed to be the bedrock of
America of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps
and working hard and making the American Dream
happen.
And these benefits are put in place to basically
help anyone who wants to obtain that.
So by saying, no if you use any of those or
you not even if you have used them, but you
might use them based on your English proficiency
or your age or your family.
Well, we might deny you the chance to even
try and do that before you can even come.
>> It's the scary part of this thing.
>> So it reminds of one of the best interviews,
which everyone in their lifetime should check
out.
Martin Luther King, not the quotes that conservatives
like to take on MLK Day and pretend they actually
have familiarized themselves with.
But when he talks about pulling yourself up
by your bootstraps and the kind of racist
tendencies that go along with that.
This is a Martin Luther King that conservatives
don't wanna highlight, because he was very
radical in when he basically calling out white
privilege.
And the way that testament was only offered
to certain groups of immigrants specifically,
the Irish in the Europeans would actually
be given lined.
So that they could become proficient and they
could get themselves wealthy.
But more often than not, people of colors,
especially black and brown folk in America,
it won't give enough privilege.
They won't even allow the opportunities to
try and raise themselves up from the bedrock
which a lot of Americans have put them into.
So, it just goes along with that sentiment.
It's like, so you're not only lying when you're
selling this idea of the American dream.
And I'm gonna let anyone have the opportunity
to try and get it.
>> Yeah, so there's layers of what's wrong
with this policy.
So first of all saying if we think you might
one day require public assistance, what?
>> Right.
>> What is this a thought crime?
>> What's an face.
>> Right, and like hey, we think one day you
might be poor, so we are gonna kick your ass
preemptively right now
>> And deny you certain rights, that's insanity,
right?
And by the way, if you're a republican voter,
are you all fabulously wealthy already?
I mean look, the first they said it was undocumented
immigrants.
Now it's all immigrants including green card
holders, which is another layer I'm going
to get through.
You sure they're not gonna come for you next?
By the way they are already coming for you,
now they are doing drug test, they are doing
everything they can to deny you Medicaid.
If you are poor, food stamps for kids if their
hungry etc, so in terms of the green cards,
that use to be there.
Once you got a green card, you are perfectly
legal here as a resident, the only thing you
couldn't do was vote.
But otherwise, you had all the privileges
of a full blown resident in America.
Now, no, they were lying, they hate all immigrants,
so they, unless they're America Donald Trump,
and their family.
So, now they's shipping away all the rights
the green card holders has.
So, how could it make a difference.
I mean, look, Steve always told the story
before he sometimes appears on air here and
he's an employee here and his parents came
incredibly poor from Korea.
With the help of other family etc, they were
able to get a toehold into a 711 that they
ran center but before they got the 711, they
were dirt poor so they needed assistance.
So they got, yeah, they got food stamps and
because they were hungry and get low and behold,
they work really hard.
It's the American Dream right?
Wind up owning that 711, wind up helping others
own 711 right.
And wind up sending their kids to really great
schools and they would have done well if they
weren't working at the Young Turks.
So,
>> Stop
>> So, that was supposed to be what Republicans
stood for.
I remember, cuz I was a Republican back then,
when I was younger and my family lived the
American Dream.
A lot of my friends lived the American Dream.
We were told what now it turns out was a lie.
And it's not that I actually was still patriotic.
I don't believe the American Dream is a lie.
I think it's awfully difficult and way harder
today than it ever was.
Well, depending on who you are, but having
said that the Republic, as it turns out, never
meant it.
They never believed in the American Dream.
And this whole bootstrapping stuff is nonsense.
They actually want to make sure that you have
as difficult as time as possible if you're
from the wrong place, and you'll look different
than them.
>> Well, I like that you brought that up and
it also contradicts what you always hear from
conservatives.
When they say, well, why they even flooding
our border just come the legal way.
And then now they'll say you can come the
legal way but we're actually gonna put more
restrictions on it.
So it makes it even more difficult and for
anyone, and I'm speaking on behalf of people
who have actually been through the process.
I know as you mentioned there and I wanna
highlight it straight away.
The process for me has been a lot easier because
I've had family to be able to support, companies
support, of going through the process, but,
it is not cheap, right.
So to break it down, if you're actually looking
for ways to try to, in a way discourage people
from trying to get a green card on its own.
It costs a substantial amount of money just
to even try to get into the process, to even
get into the interview stage.
So you're talking about, if you're taking
about family based, at least $4,000 including
lawyer fees.
And if you're looking to try and go through,
you've got biometrics, you'll get so many
fees added on to that.
So you're actually gonna be out of pocket
before you've even got into the position to
try to become a legal citizen.
And then they're trying to say, you can spend
all that money trying to come here.
But you know what, you might not even get
here.
Because you might one day need to rely on
the government to help you, after you've pumped
all this money into trying to become a citizen
is ridiculous.
>> Yeah and and very last thing here guys
is that, we had a system that was okay wasn't
great.
We you know and a lot of democrats also believe
in deportations even before Trump etc.
But the one thing that we were all theoretically
in favor of until the Trump years was, well,
look, America is built on immigrants, that's
an absolute fact.
And no one could dispute that.
So we all were in favor of legal immigration,
getting in line as Francis did, as I did,
etc.
And the Republicans said that most of all,
they shouted from the rooftops.
Now, not only do they do this, they're against
what they're calling chain migration.
Chain migration just means family members,
that is the predominant legal way of entering
the country.
The number one way to become a legal immigrant,
not an illegal, not an undocumented but a
legal immigrant.
And now, Trump's Republicans have said, yep
we were lying the whole time.
We never even believed in that.
We don't think family should come here.
So there's no end to their hypocrisy and sometimes
people are asking, why should leave your Republican
party?
Well if you find out everything they were
saying is a lie and you stayed.
What's wrong with you?
The question is why I live, question is, why
hasn't everybody left the Republican party?
>> We know the answer to that.
>> Yeah.
