Newt Gingrich Set To Make The Case For More Legal Immigration

The former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich says that “all the anger about illegal immigration” pushed him to publicly make the case for the importance of legal immigration, he told The Daily Wire.

Gingrich, along with his wife Callista Gingrich, is set to release a documentary on the value of legal immigration to the United States next month. He says the idea is to highlight immigrant stories that made the country a better place.

“Callista and I wanted to make the case for legal immigration with all of the anger about illegal immigration. We wanted a diverse range of people and people who would be plainly recognized,” Gingrich explained, later adding, “Some of them are great personal stories but not necessarily historic — but still unique in what they contributed to America. Some contribute in sort of an everyday way, some in more of a historic way.”

The documentary comes amid heated debate over immigration in the United States, both legal and illegal, even within the Republican Party. With Donald Trump set to retake the White House and secure the border, there is a significant amount of debate over other immigration restrictions, including worker visa programs that aim to bring in high-skilled workers to aid the U.S. economy. Critics say it takes jobs away from Americans, even if they’re capable of doing the job.

Gingrich told The Daily Wire that he and his wife carefully selected the stories of several immigrants to highlight for the upcoming PBS documentary, “Journey to America: With Newt and Callista Gingrich.” It will highlight, among others, the stories of renowned theoretical physicist Albert Einstein of Germany, Catholic missionary Francesca Cabrini of Italy, and famous actress — and inventor — Hedy Lamarr of Austria.

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“For me, the most interesting piece was Hedy Lamarr. I knew of her as an actress but not how much she had contributed as an inventor even while she was working in Hollywood,” Gingrich said. “As we developed the script, I realized that she had contributed technology we still use in our cell phones today.”

Lamarr, who starred alongside Hollywood heavyweights Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, and Lana Turner in 1941’s “Ziegfeld Girl,” is also responsible for pioneering the technology that is still used as the basis for WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth communications.

Gingrich said that the overall message they meant to share was a simple one: “The message is to have a real sense of pride that we are a nation that has had an open door for people to enter legally, and we have been remarkably enriched by the people who have come here and have contributed greatly to our society in many different ways.”

“It’s totally appropriate to be against illegal immigration, but we don’t want that to become being against legal immigration,” Gingrich added, drawing a hard line between supporting legal immigration and simply allowing people to cross the border unchecked. “America is a very unique and successful country because of legal immigration … You can enrich your country without having it overrun by people who break the law.”

Gingrich mentioned the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, saying that she’d once referred to the United States as a “contract country” — and added, “[That is] the great genius of the American system — you can come here, but then you have to become an American.”

The documentary is set to premiere on January 14 at 10pm ET.