posted 08-15-2018 10:42 AM                  

FLASHBACK: Schumer Called Illegal Immigration 'Wrong,' Said 'Aliens' Should Not Be Treated Same as Legal Immigrants

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been an outspoken critic of President Trump's immigration policies.

But in a speech in 2009, Schumer espoused views against illegal immigration that sound strikingly similar to what President Trump has said since 2015.

Speaking at an immigration policy conference at Georgetown Law, Schumer said, "Illegal immigration is wrong, and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration."

Schumer also called for significant increases in infrastructure, technology and border personnel to achieve "operational control of our borders," in addition to an expansion of the E-Verify program to disincentivize illegal immigrants coming to the U.S. for jobs.

“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,” Schumer said. “If you don’t think it’s illegal, you’re not going to say it. I think it is illegal and wrong and we have to change it."

“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 U.S. legally," Schumer said later in the speech.

On "Fox & Friends," Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, said Schumer sounded like he's running for a job in the Trump administration.

She suggested that Schumer has since changed his tune and embraced amnesty because he will take any position that helps him politically at any given moment.

"Most mainstream Democrats would be wise not to embrace that and instead try to win back the hearts and minds of mainstream voters by supporting immigration policies that work for our country and that discourage illegal immigration and bring us border security," Vaughan said.

She argued that Schumer and many other Democrats are so "rattled" by Trump that they're adopting policies just to oppose him, rather than work with him to achieve a solution on immigration that most Americans would support.

"This is what makes it hard to get real reform through Congress, though, because the Democrats have staked out such an extreme position now."

Watch Must Watch from "Fox & Friends" here. Video of Chuck Schumer's actual words
http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/08/15/chuck-schumer-sounded-president-trum p-illegal-immigration-2009