Former President Bill Clinton says there's a limit to how many migrants the U.S. can take in before it creates a severe disruption.
Clinton made his comments during an interview on the CNN podcast, "Fareed Zakaria GPS."
Zakaria asked Clinton: "Now what you have is a lot of people who are essentially economic migrants ... essentially gaming the system, using the asylum as a way to get in. Isn't it true that there has to be some order placed on this? Some control?"
Clinton replied: "I agree with that. That is, there is a limit to how many migrants any society can take without severe disruption and assistance, and our system is based much more on an assumption that things would be more normal."
Clinton recalled a time when Mexican migrants would freely travel back and forth across the border to do agricultural work in the U.S.
But he acknowledged times have changed.
"It's an old story, but now you've got the largest number of refugees since World War II because of Syria and now Ukraine and other problems," he said
Clinton blasted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for busing migrants to other cities.
"What's happening in Venezuela, more than 2 million refugees pouring into first Colombia, then to nearby countries, has created unprecedented new challenges and meanwhile provides opportunities for stunts like Gov. Abbott's — sending his refugees to some place that he thinks is advocating for a broad-minded policy that it doesn't have to live with," he said.
"And then [Florida] Gov. [Ron] DeSantis sending those people to Martha's Vineyard was amazing. That may come back to haunt him a little bit," Clinton said.
Venezuelan migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard have sued DeSantis and his transportation secretary for allegedly engaging in a ''fraudulent and discriminatory scheme'' to relocate them, according to The Associated Press.
The lawsuit alleges that the migrants were told they were going to Boston or Washington, ''which was completely false," and were induced with perks such as $10 McDonald's gift certificates.
CBS News noted that the number of migrant arrivals reported along the southern border in fiscal year 2022 surpassed 2 million in August, a record.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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