Fox & Friends host defends Trump's latest move to restrict legal immigration as a “common sense measure”
Pete Hegseth: Trump has “strengthened, clarified the immigration system” by changing “public charge” rule
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From the August 13 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
GRIFF JENKINS (GUEST CO-HOST): I cover so much immigration here. And we have another story coming out of Washington, immigration. After I'm here today I'll go back, probably be covering some of this this week. And that is, the administration is instituting a new regulation, if you will, called a public charge, right. It basically says that if you're coming to this country as an immigrant, you cannot be dependent on federal government benefits for more than 12 months at a time in any three year given period. They basically want immigrants coming to this country to be self-independent. Right? They can't be on Medicaid, on food stamps, on welfare.
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AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Mark Steyn was filling in for Tucker last night. And he even said when I came into this country, they were asking me those questions. These questions have been asked for a long time. But apparently recently they haven't been asking questions. Are you going to be dependent on government aid, on welfare?
PETE HEGSETH (GUEST CO-HOST): It has always been a factor, but very ill-defined. So if you're a permanent resident and you want to become -- and you're here illegally and you want to get a green card, go through the process, they look at age, health, you know, a lot of different factors. And this idea of have you been dependent on government benefits or not was ambiguous. This clarifies precisely what qualifies. And it basically says if we're a country that wants striving people who are contributing to the economy, why would we add citizens or permanent residents who are going to be dependent on the system in the first place? To a lot of people it looks like a common sense measure.
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HEGSETH: We welcome anybody of any status, ultimately this country is premised on the idea that you can be poor and earn your way into the middle class or into wealth. Just like you can fall out of that, so poor are welcome. The question is are you striving and fighting to provide for your family and not be dependent on the country that allowed you to come here? It's pretty straightforward. I will say that the failing New York Times, failing yet again this morning, of course they're opening a line. It's all about words. You know this, Griff. "President Trump on Monday broadened his assault on the nation's immigrant system." I think a lot of people would say strengthened, clarified the immigration system to make sure we're doing it based on merit, not just on, you know, how long you've been here.