Watch Stephen Miller snap at The New York Times' Glenn Thrush in heated spar over immigration

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/MSNBC)

In defending the White House-backed merit-based immigration system announced Wednesday, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller sparred with The New York Times' Glenn Thrush as Thrush challenged Miller to provide statistics to back up his claims about immigration and the economy. Instead of naming statistics directly, Miller listed the name of several studies before arguing that the merit-based legislation is "common sense." To that, Thrush responded, "I'm not asking for common sense. I'm asking for specific statistical data."

As Thrush continued to press Miller, Miller finally snapped: "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 from other countries and see how you feel then about low-wage substitution."

When Thrush tried to get a word in edgewise, Miller added: "Maybe it's time we had compassion, Glenn, for the American workers." Watch below. Jeva Lange

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.