DNC Chair Tom Perez: ‘Illegal immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes.’ Explain this, please.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez insists free healthcare for those who enter the United States illegally is not a “handout.”

Perez claimed illegal immigrants in the U.S. “pay billions of dollars in taxes” and therefore deserve the free healthcare during an interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

(Video: Fox News)

Wallace confronted Perez on his party’s position on healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants after playing a video clip of last week’s 2020 Democratic debate as all 10 candidates raised their hand in support of the policy.

“Every person on that stage, all ten of them said that they would provide health insurance coverage for people in this country illegally, either under Obamacare or ‘Medicare for All,’ whichever they supported,” the Fox News host said. “No talk about preconditions, not paying in taxes. The basic point was, you’re in this country legally or illegally, you get health insurance coverage.”

“It’s an insurance program, so you have to pay into it. As you know immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, pay billions of dollars in taxes and that’s the reality,” Perez responded.

“What Democrats also said there Chris, which is far different than Republicans, is that if you have a pre-existing condition you should be able to keep your coverage. Democrats believe that affordable, quality healthcare should be available to everyone,” he added.

Wallace pressed Perez on the shifting position of Democrats, playing a 2009 video clip of former President Barack Obama, during an address to Congress, claiming that his health care law would not cover illegal immigrants, prompting the infamous outburst from Republican South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson who yelled, “You lie!”

“The fact is, 10 years later, Joe Wilson is right about where the Democrats are now,” Wallace said.

“Democrats believe that you should be able to buy into a health insurance system. It’s not a handout,” Perez said.

“Obama didn’t say that,” Wallace shot back.

“We were in a different era,” Perez offered as the excuse.

“I believe what we are doing right now, I live in a community right now where if you are a pregnant woman and you are undocumented, we provide you with access to health care because we believe that having good prenatal care is an essential health care issue an essential issue of economics and frankly an essential issue of morality,” he continued.

“The party of Lincoln is dead,” he added.

“And one of the things that died with it is compassion and this is not a handout,” Perez repeated. “Again, this is allowing people to buy into an insurance program.”

Democrats continue to tout the idea of universal healthcare – including for those in the country illegally – but cannot seem to defend the idea coherently. Twitter users slammed Perez for his attempted explanation and defense on Sunday.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Frieda Powers

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

BPR INSIDER COMMENTS

Scroll down for non-member comments or join our insider conversations by becoming a member. We'd love to have you!

Latest Articles