Celebrity chef Jose Andres said Friday that immigration is an opportunity to “seize,” not a problem to “solve.”
“Immigration is not a problem for America to solve,” Andres told ABC News’s The View. “It’s an opportunity for America to seize. Actually, we should be celebrating because unemployment has been very low. This is good news.”
“Restaurant industry has a hard time finding workers, so we can keep opening restaurants and moving the economy forward, in urban America and rural America.”
More than restaurants, farmers are struggling to find people who can take care of the land, and immigrants play a “super important role,” according to Andres.
“Who do you think works the golf courses, taking care of the grass?” he asked. “President Trump, himself, he owns golf courses. President Trump, himself, owns wineries. Who do you think picks up the grapes in the wineries in America?”
“Should we be giving those jobs to Americans? Obviously! I’m an American. I want Americans to succeed, but, also, I’m a pragmatic businessperson,” he added. “Let’s do good policy that, at the end, becomes smart good policy.”
Cuts to the United States Agency for International Development and tariffs under President Donald Trump represent a serious threat to impoverished Americans, according to Andrés.
WHITE HOUSE RESCISSIONS PACKAGE CUTS $1.1 BILLION FROM PBS, $8.3 BILLION FROM USAID
“It’s red states and blue states. It’s Americans, forget politics,” he said. “So, we need to come up with policies supported by both parties that actually make sure where no kid in America will ever be hungry again and where no family will ever be poor again.”
“That should be the first policy. You’re not gonna achieve it tearing down programs.”