During Wednesday’s White House press briefing, U.S. President Donald Trump aide Stephen Miller argued with a CNN reporter about recently introduced immigration legislation, specifically the stipulation that those hoping to immigrate to the United States must speak English and be highly skilled.
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When Miller mentioned the proposal, CNN reporter Jim Acosta asked him whether it aligned with American tradition. He then quoted the plaque on the Statue of Liberty to illustrate his point, and asked whether immigrants could simply learn to speak English when they arrive.
“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-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” reads the inscription.
Acosta said about the plaque, “it doesn’t say anything about speaking English or being a computer programmer. Aren’t you trying to change what it means to be an immigrant coming into this country if you’re telling them you have to learn how to speak English? Can’t people learn how to speak English when they get here?”
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Miller countered Acosta’s points by saying that immigrants must speak English in order to be naturalized, so “the notion that speaking English wouldn’t be a part of our immigration system would be actually very a-historical.”
He also said that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of “liberty lighting the world … the poem that you’re referring to was added later. It’s not actually part of the original statue of liberty.”
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Acosta then retorted that Miller’s statements sounded like “some national park revisionism,” before saying that the Statue of Liberty has always stood as a beacon of hope to immigrants.
“They’re not always going to speak English, Stephen, they’re not always going to be highly skilled,” he continued.
Miller then responded to Acosta by listing several years and the number of immigrants accepted into the Untied States each year, asking which of them met “Jim Acosta’s Statue of Liberty law of the land.”
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After a few minutes of arguing about the immigration history of the United States, Acosta then asked Miller whether the English-first clause meant the U.S. would only take in immigrants from Great Britain and Australia.
Miller then insisted that this statement revealed Acosta’s “cosmopolitan bias,” in thinking that only immigrants from Great Britain and Australia would speak English.
The legislation was introduced by two Republican Senators and backed by Trump. It calls for a merit-based immigration system rather than one that seeks to reunite families. Some of the requirement would include the ability to speak English and being a highly skilled worker.
Immigration was central to Trump’s 2016 campaign for the presidency.
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