White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller went toe-to-toe with New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush during Wednesday's White House press briefing over a new plan backed by Trump to move to a merit-based system for foreigners applying for legal permanent status.

Thrush asked Miller to cite specific statistics showing that American workers are hurt by low-skilled immigration, and said other studies have shown there isn't a correlation between the low-skilled immigration negatively impacting American workers.

Miller cited specific authors of studies reiterating his point, but Thrush pushed back on Miller's comments.

Miller then jokingly told Thrush that they could make a carve-out in the bill to specifically allow the New York Times to take in as many unskilled workers as they want, at the cost of creating jobs for American citizens.

"Maybe we'll make a carve out in the bill that says the New York Times can hire all the low-skilled, less-paid workers they want from other countries and see how you feel then about low wage substitution," he said. "This is a reality that's happening in our country. Maybe it's time we have compassion for American workers."