Political | Process

Nadler was addressing the Immigration subcommittee when he was trying to make a point about the replacement rate in the U.S. A clip of his comments surfaced on X.

“We need immigrants in this country,” Nadler said. “Forget the fact that the farm that our vegetables would rot in the ground if they weren’t being picked by many immigrants — many illegal immigrants — the fact is that the birthrate in this country is way below replacement level, which means our population is going to start shrinking. And the ratio of people on Social Security and Medicare is going to increase relative to the number of people supporting them.”

The commentary on vegetable picking grabbed the most attention online, which resulted in many responses.

“Democrats in 1823: ‘Who would pick our cotton?’ Democrats in 2023,” writer Mark Hemingway posted.

The U.S. fertility rate was almost 1.7 children per woman, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2022. This is under the necessary 2.1 rate needed to replace the population.

Meanwhile, U.S. Customs and Border Protection processed more than 302,000 people at the U.S.-Mexico border in December alone. This is in addition to the over 10 million immigrants who have reportedly entered the country illegally since Biden took office. It is the most recorded in that amount of time of any administration.

Democrats in 1823: “Who would pick our cotton?”

Democrats in 2023: https://t.co/mCj2rQ61BO

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) January 12, 2024