6 times top Democrats warned against illegal immigration, called for deportations

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, February 05, 2026

4. Chuck Schumer: 'Illegal immigration is wrong, plain and simple'

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who has had a seat in Congress for 45 years, said in a 2009 speech at Georgetown University Law Center that illegal immigration is "wrong" and must stop.

"We must create a system that converts the current flow of primarily low-skilled illegal immigrants into the United States into a more manageable and controlled flow of legal immigrants who can be absorbed by our economy," he said.

"Let me elaborate: the first of these seven principles is that illegal immigration is wrong, plain and simple. Until the American people are convinced that we will stop future flows of illegal immigration, we will make no progress on dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants who are here now, and on rationalizing our system of legal immigration. That's plain and simple and unavoidable," he continued.

Schumer also criticized the phrase "undocumented workers" as an attempt to obfuscate the illegal nature of breaking immigration law.

When Schumer was in the U.S. House of Representatives 36 years ago, he said before the passing of the Immigration Act of 1990 that immigration to the U.S. should be skill-based and that it should "not simply be family relationships that determine who comes here."

"This bill says if you have a skill that America needs, we're going to accept you. In the past, that was very, very, very difficult. Less than 4 percent of all immigrants came because, or were admitted, to this country because we needed their help in the job market. And now that percentage will increase significantly," he said.

"And so, it's the first time that we've really recognized that economic competition, the need for new skills and new ideas, that for whatever reason aren't being supplied by our own workers, will happen."