Zoe Lofgren did it again. This time, the chairwoman of the House immigration subcommittee didn’t invite a mocking comedian to testify about farmworkers. Instead, she invited two billionaires to make the case for importing more cheap labor. Rupert Murdoch and Mike Bloomberg testified this morning (see written statements here and the C-SPAN video here). The other Democratic witness was the head of the Houston chamber of commerce; my director of research, Steven Camarota, was the lone Republican witness.
Bloomberg and Murdoch obviously don’t know any more about immigration than Stephen Colbert, but at least they didn’t joke about colonoscopies and corn-packers. The witness statements were the usual stuff, but the Q&A had a few interesting moments. Maxine Waters (and later Linda Sanchez) berated Rupert Murdoch for allowing Fox News to air views contrary to his pro-amnesty position (as though it was a party organ, like those of their pal Castro); Murdoch replied that he does his open-borders advocacy in the Wall Street Journal instead. Luis Gutierrez, who may be running against Rahm for mayor, praised the three Democratic witnesses for showing how, through mass immigration, “we transform America and make it a vital, energetic economic engine of the future.” Bloomberg tried to say that the drubbing Democrats are going to receive is an argument for amnesty and increased immigration: “If there’s any message coming out of what looks like is going to happen in November it is that the public is tired of Congress talking about things and not doing anything.” (So why are there even fewer Democrats running on a platform of amnesty than are running on Obamacare?)