03 August, 2017
When Acosta continued to question whether immigrants would have to know English before coming to the United States, charging that people would have to come from Great Britain and Australia, Miller fired back.
When Acosta asked if the bill's preference for English speakers was designed so that the USA would only take in people from Great Britain and Australia, Miller exploded.
On Wednesday, for reasons known only to whatever critters inhabit the ravines and gullies of the presidential cortex, they trotted Miller out to talk about the administration's new proposal to limit legal immigration.
Miller is no stranger to racially-motivated immigration policy.
"The Statue of Liberty has always been a beacon of hope to the world for people to send people to this country, and they're not always going to speak English, Stephen, they're not always going to be highly skilled", Acosta went on to argue.
Anyone who attended one of the president*'s campaign rallies learned two things: 1) that it is possible to get sick of hearing "You Can't Always Get What You Want", and 2) that of all the warm-up acts, Stephen Miller was the most thuggish. "Maybe it's time we had compassion for American workers", Miller said, echoing Trump's talking points during his endorsement of the RAISE ACT earlier in the day.
Acosta asked whether team Trump's new 'skills-based immigration system, ' a plan rolled out today, was in line with American tradition.
And here's Miller berating CNN reporter Jim Acosta, a favorite target of the Trump administration.
The exchange eventually simmered down and Miller issued a rare apology from the White House Briefing room dais. Can't people learn how to speak English when they get here? Miller, apparently feeling overshadowed by recently ousted Anthony Scaramucci, decided instead to lecture a CNN reporter about his "cosmopolitan bias" and the original intention of the Statue of Liberty.
"You are sort of bringing a "Press One For English" philosophy here to immigration, and that is not what the United States is about".
Some had speculated that Spicer could step into the communications director vacancy, at least until the White House was able to find a permanent replacement.
Miller said it is offensive to millions of people from all over the world who speak English.
Shooting back, Miller said: "Well first of all, right now, it's a requirement that to be naturalized, you have to speak English".
"The people that hurt the most [from the] policy you're advocating are immigrant worker, minority workers and African American workers and Hispanic workers", Miller added. The Anne Frank Center also called Miller's comments "grotesque" and tweeted that both he and Trump "don't love" the Statue of Liberty "like they should". He said his statements about Australians and Brits being the only ones who spoke English around the world revealed his "cosmopolitan bias".
Miller later apologized to Acosta before leaving the lectern, saying "things got heated", but added that the CNN anchor "made some pretty rough insinuations".
