Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said while the U.S.-Mexico border needs to be secured amid the historic crisis under President Joe Biden, she noted we need more immigrants in the country because they can be useful for picking crops in states like Florida.
"Securing our border is part of our security...We have a responsibility to secure our border. We also have a responsibility, recognize the importance of newcomers to our nation right now. The best thing that we can do for our economy is to have comprehensive immigration reform," Pelosi said on Friday.
"We have a shortage of workers in our country," Pelosi continued. "In Florida, some of the farmers and the growers saying 'Why are you shipping these immigrants up north? We need them to pick the crops down here.'"
Pelosi was referring to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' (R) program of sending processed and released migrants to sanctuary states in the northern part of the United States. Critics accusing DeSantis of human trafficking and kidnapping the migrants has been the main line of attack and while large numbers of immigrants are in the crop picker business, lamenting they are not picking crops in Florida is a new one from Democrats.
The question that resulted in Pelosi's bizarre answer came from Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, who has reported extensively on the southern border crisis.
Moments ago, I asked Speaker Pelosi if she believes the border is secure. This was part of her lengthy answer. More to come. https://t.co/9l0gwxZWDk
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 30, 2022