Did Chuck Schumer say ‘our ultimate goal’ is to give citizenship to immigrants already in US?

Less than a month away from the midterm elections on Nov. 3, people shared a rumor claiming U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that “our ultimate goal” is to give citizenship to millions of migrants who already crossed a border into the U.S.

For example, on Tuesday, a popular X user posted (archived), “Sen. Chuck Schumer: ‘Our ultimate goal’ is to give every illegal alien citizenship.”

(@LeadingReport via X)

On the same day, another popular user on Facebook posted (archived) a photo of Schumer with the word “BREAKING!” and police car light emojis, with a text caption reading, “BREAKING: Sen. Chuck Schumer just that ‘Our ultimate goal’ is to give every illegal alien citizenship. We knew this was their strategy and why they wanted open borders! Remember this when you vote!”

(David J Harris Jr. via Facebook)

Others shared videos of Schumer appearing to make the same comment, including on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived).

The videos show Schumer talking behind microphones outside the Capitol in Washington, surrounded by people who at one point cheer him on. He speaks about protecting “Dreamers,” a reference to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — a federal immigration policy allowing some immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to receive temporary protection from deportation and eligibility for a renewable work permit:

Now more than ever, we’re short of workers. We have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to. The only way we’re going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants, the “Dreamers” and all of them, because our ultimate goal is to help the “Dreamers” but get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here.

In sum, Schumer truly said this. He made the remark in November 2022 as part of an effort to urge the Senate to pass protections for “Dreamers” during a lame-duck session of Congress, prior to the start of a fresh session in the new year. Users omitted that month and year from their posts.

Snopes emailed Schumer’s office to ask if he still believed in what he said in the video, if he meant Democrats or “Dreamers” were the ones who had the “ultimate goal” he described and if he wished to share a statement responding to users reposting his comment. We will update this article if we receive further information.

More of Schumer’s remarks

Schumer spoke about “our ultimate goal” and “Dreamers” on Nov. 16, 2022. He began his thoughts as follows (bolded emphasis ours, notes section from users’ posts):

I believe in this so much. I believe in it in a personal basis because I know “Dreamers” who have been such great people here in America and who have just struggled every time they get a phone call, every time they walk down the street, they’re worried, will someone grab them and take them away. So that’s personal about them and what they have done. But I also believe in it as an overall, as an American who wants to see our country be stronger because immigrants make us stronger now more than ever.

Now more than ever, now more than ever, we’re short of workers. We have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to. The only way we’re gonna have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants, the “Dreamers” and all of them because our ultimate goal is to help the “Dreamers” but get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here, and we will be pursuing that in the next Senate, in the next Senate, the comprehensive immigration reform. Right now, our focus is on “Dreamers” and we retain the Senate.

Schumer later closed his comments, saying, “We will not stop fighting till we get a fix for DACA, a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented.” More of the event is available to watch on C-SPAN and YouTube.

Senate Democrats ultimately failed to secure the 60 votes needed to pass the bipartisan immigration deal before the end of that year.

For further reading, we previously reported the untrue claim that Schumer had said in 1996, “The No. 1 reason people come to the U.S. illegally is to defraud systems like Social Security and I want to stop it.”

Sources