Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) schooled Rep. Gary Palmer on Wednesday after the Alabama Republican claimed that the Founding Fathers “never anticipated” having a mass number of people “illegally” come to America.
The comments arrived during a House Oversight Committee markup session where lawmakers addressed the Equal Representation Act, which — if passed — would require a citizenship question on the 2030 U.S. census and every census 10 years after that.
Raskin said a colleague claimed the founders “never anticipated” there’d be “huge numbers” of people who couldn’t vote who were being counted in the census.
“Of course they did. The vast majority of Americans couldn’t vote when the country started,” said Raskin before Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) chimed in.
“He said the founders never anticipated this volume of illegals,” noted Higgins, who clarified Palmer’s remarks. “Don’t twist my colleague’s words.”
Raskin called it “very valiant” for Higgins to defend Palmer before sending a U.S. history lesson his way.
“There was no immigration law when the Constitution was adopted at all. In fact, the only illegals in the country, at least according to the native population, were the people writing the Constitution,” said Raskin of the document, which a number of people born outside of the U.S. signed.