WASHINGTON—Today, United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Appropriations, Banking, and Foreign Relations Committees and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, joined Varney & Co. on Fox Business to discuss Democrats supporting illegal immigration for political power, his legislation to withhold funding from sanctuary cities, and the Chinese Communist Party’s malign influence on the United States.
Partial Transcript
Hagerty on Democrats supporting illegal immigration: “What they’re not saying is what’s so obvious to all of us. They’re creating these sanctuaries as magnets. They want these magnets to attract illegal aliens. They want these illegal aliens, because why? They want to increase the count for the census. So, they can get more congressional districts and more electoral votes in their states. That’s precisely what’s happening. That’s why we should outlaw this. We should not allow the counting of illegal aliens in the census for allocating congressional seats and electoral votes. They know that. But that’s exactly why they’re using this as a magnet, and they’re not cooperating with federal law. You’ve seen the chaos in the streets. You’ve got illegal aliens running around with flags of other countries and burning the American flag. These are criminals that are disrespecting the United States of America. And I think we need to make it clear the United States is not a sanctuary nation, nor are any of these cities allowed to be sanctuary cities.”
Hagerty on his legislation to withhold funding from sanctuary cities: “Well, here’s what you can do, and I’m doing it today: I’m bringing out legislation that will stop the flow of community development block grants to these sanctuary cities. If you’re a sanctuary city, we’re going to withhold the funding for community development block grants. They’ll start to see it when on the Appropriations Committee and the Banking Committee, we’re able to put pressure on the funding of these cities that seem to rely so much on the federal [dollar]. Yet, they want to act as if they’re independent at the same time.”
Hagerty on the CCP’s malign influence within the U.S.: “It is strong, but what’s happening to us is very strong, and we need to wake up to it. The most recent case of agroterrorism, very deeply concerning, bringing in bio-terrorism material here that could destroy crops in America. You think about a spy balloon that was floated over our country. I think the worst defense of all is the fact that China continues to send fentanyl and fentanyl precursors into the United States through Mexico, through their partners there. And they launder the money from these Mexican partners, or these other cartels from Venezuela, you name it. The crime that’s being fueled here in America has fingerprints of the CCP all over it. And if you think about what’s happening on our campuses, Confucius institutes, the attempts, basically, to indoctrinate young people. You think about the content on TikTok here in America versus what kids see in China. They see educational programming in China. On TikTok here, something very, very different. So, it’s deeply concerning and something that we ought to acknowledge as a nation and address.”
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