Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a former assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor under Barack Obama, revealed his belief that immigrants — both legal and illegal — are necessary to “mow our beautiful lawns.”
Malinowski, a freshman Democrat who is running for re-election in New Jersey’s seventh district, made the offensive comments this past Tuesday to constituents at a campaign event in the wealthy New Jersey suburb of Hillsborough.
“There are a lot of jobs in our community, that like it or not, for better or for worse, Americans are not willing to take,” he claimed.
Which is, of course, a ridiculous notion, in our view. If illegal immigrants weren’t performing those jobs, legal immigrants and Americans would be doing them at higher wages — and paying more in taxes because they have Social Security numbers.
He then went on to give examples of this — ultimately landing on a racist stereotype.
“Who do you think is taking care of our seniors?” Malinowski also told those in attendance. “Who do you think is mowing our beautiful lawns in Somerset County?”
He explained that not all — but “a lot of those workers [who are doing those jobs] are undocumented.”
One person in the crowd noted that he is employed at a company that teaches children coding — to which Malinowski responded, “You’re a bunch of elitists. You’re not going to mow lawns.”
Imagine for a moment somebody like President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, or Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), for example, making a comment like this.
Related: AOC Declares Trump Supporters Are Racist
One person whom no one needs to imagine making similarly offensive comments is the man Malinowski used to work for: Barack Obama.
The then-president delivered an amnesty speech in 2014 in which he referred to illegal immigrants as the people who “pick our fruit and make our beds.”
“Are we a nation that tolerates the hypocrisy of a system where workers who pick our fruit and make our beds never have a chance to get right with the law?” the former president asked.
Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, a Democrat, made similar comments, saying about Latinos, “Where are you going to get people to work to clean our hotel rooms or do our landscaping?”
Oddly enough, Malinowski ran for Congress in 2018 specifically based on President Trump’s so-called “attacks” on immigrants.
“It was the Muslim ban, and attacks on immigrants. It was the tearing up of alliances and commitments internationally.” Those were among the reasons that pushed him into the political arena, he said.
WATCH: @Malinowski tells supporters they’re “too elitist” to mow lawns, says that’s what illegal immigrants are for. #NJ07https://t.co/S90z5YbH4T pic.twitter.com/frzZME9xOO
— NRCC (@NRCC) August 22, 2019
Yet here is the same individual mocking and stereotyping illegals. Remarkable.
This piece originally appeared in The Political Insider and is used by permission.
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