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DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley confronted American Immigration Council Senior Fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday about how flooding the job market with illegal immigrants benefits Americans.

Melnick previously stated in October that mass deportations would be detrimental to many American industries, including hospitality, construction and agriculture. During a hearing on President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy, Hawley argued during a heated exchange with Melnick that Democrats plan to continue hurting the economy and allowing wages to go down by allowing illegal immigrants to be part of the American workforce.

“Why would you want American citizens and those who are here lawfully to have to compete against illegal immigrants who, by the way, are not always paid minimum wage, who are not given the federally mandated benefits precisely because they are here illegally. Why would you want to drive down the wages of millions of working Americans who can’t get those jobs in construction, infrastructure, and hospitality because illegal immigrants are getting them [and] suppressing wages in the meantime. Why would you want to do that?” Hawley asked. “I read your testimony word for word, and I’ve been watching it and I know what the answer is. You don’t actually care about working people because you’re absolutely hellbent on this ideological agenda of opening our border.”

Melnick said that he supports a “path to citizenship” for those who pass background checks and pay a fine, leading Hawley to argue that he wants illegal immigrants to take jobs from American citizens and “drive down the labor force.”

“So just if you’re wondering America, here’s the Democrats’ plan,” Hawley continued. “Take the 13 million plus illegals who are here taking jobs from Americans, taking wages down, taking healthcare benefits, and bring them here legally so they can continue to drive down wages, flood the labor force, and suppress all of the above.”

“Senator Hawley, they can’t flood the labor force if they’re already part of the labor force which is an economic issue today,” Melnick replied, leading the senator to exclaim they are currently flooding the labor force.

Hawley and Melnick then sparred on how working-class wages have been impacted due to illegal immigrants joining the workforce, with the Melnick stating that wages have been on the rise due to illegal immigrants’ labor.

“Oh really they’ve gone up over the past 15 years? They’re up? Yeah, they’re down. Way down. What world do you live in? … Let me just end with this. The American people had a good look at your economic record and then voted against it,” Hawley said.

Trump has vowed to enforce mass deportations once he enters office and strengthen the U.S.-Mexico border. Some pro-immigration activists have warned that the deportations will harm the economy, as immigrants made up 18.6% of the labor force in 2023, according to CNBC.

Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that Trump will deliver on his promise to “deport migrant criminals” and revive “economic greatness,” according to CNBC.

Immigrant labor causes a “downward pressure” on the hourly and weekly wages of American workers, particularly those with only a high school diploma or less, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

Originally published by The Daily Caller News Foundation.