Sarah Peters, The Hill, September 20, 2011

A House Republican freshman on Tuesday night called on the federal government to step up enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, and said removing illegal immigrants is one way to create needed jobs for Americans.

“There is a surefire way to create jobs now for American citizens,” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said on the House floor. “Evict all illegal aliens from America and immediately open up millions of jobs for unemployed Americans.

“The eviction of illegal aliens from America has the side benefit of eliminating the abundance of cheap, illegal alien labor, which, in turn, forces blue-collar wages up, thus helping American families afford and pursue the American Dream.”

Brooks and several other House Republicans said illegal immigrants commit violent crimes against law-abiding American citizens and that the federal government has failed to protect the latter.

“Illegal aliens commit horrendous crimes against American citizens, crimes that strain state and federal judicial systems, police and sheriff departments and prisons that are already overcrowded in a financial crisis,” Brooks said.

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Brooks and others called for the federal government to allow local law enforcement to help enforce immigration laws. Brooks spoke in favor of his Jobs for Americans Act, H.R. 2670, which would make that change.

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