White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t just handle a reporter’s question on the Schumer shutdown — she dismantled it. When one reporter tried to corner her with the usual Democratic talking points about illegal immigrants, Leavitt came back with a buzzsaw of facts and left nothing standing.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Thursday, Karoline Leavitt cut right to the heart of the matter. The government is shut down, she said, because Democrats are holding out for one thing: healthcare benefits for illegal aliens. That’s it. Not veterans, not struggling families, not middle-class taxpayers — illegals.
“Democrats have voted for the same CR [continuing resolution] Republicans introduced 13 times in the past… now all of a sudden they are shutting the government down and they are holding our country hostage over a partisan political matter [healthcare benefits to illegal aliens]….And we stopped it. The President [Donald Trump] stopped it with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill,” Leavitt said.
“And now they want to undo the President’s very popular policy to ensure taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits only go to taxpaying, law-abiding American citizens,” she added.
That’s when the fireworks began. One reporter parroted Democratic spin, insisting that Democrats couldn’t possibly be pushing healthcare for what he delicately called “undocumented immigrants” because it was “against the law.”
Leavitt didn’t just push back — she cleaned the floor with him. “Let me ask you, do you think that illegal aliens should receive Medicaid benefits?” the White House Press Secretary replied. “Medicaid benefits that go to the most vulnerable people in our society.”
The reporter hit back and said, “I didn’t ask about benefits. And that’s a debate. My question was ….” However, the press secretary was just getting started despite being interrupted a number of times.
“Medicaid benefits that were designed to help low-income families and Americans in our country,” the WH Press Secretary said. “So what the [former President Joe] Biden’s administration did is they allowed tens of millions of illegal aliens from all over the world to come into our country.”
“And they paroled them into the system,” she added. “It was a complete abuse of our immigration system. They slapped a Band-Aid on these illegals. They called it temporary protective status. And then they allowed those illegals from all over the world to get free benefits.”
“And you know who would like free benefits? Hard-working Americans who work their butts off every day, who are living paycheck to paycheck,” Leavitt continued. “Because of the Biden-induced inflation crisis. And there were higher wait times in hospitals under the Biden administration. We saw these illegals committing crimes all over our country. And they’re getting things for free. That is fundamentally unfair. And this administration is not going to do it.”
A thing of beauty…and MUST-SEE TV:
LEAVITT: DEMS SHUTDOWN HYPOCRISY
“Democrats voted 13 times for the same CR… now they’re shutting the government down to give health care benefits to illegal aliens. We stopped it. President Trump stopped it.” — @PressSec @KarolineLeavitt pic.twitter.com/XumVbemnPz
— Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) October 2, 2025
Watch this exchange re: Democrats wanting free healthcare for illegal aliens:
“You know who would like free benefits? Hard working Americans who work their butts off every day who are living paycheck to paycheck” @PressSec pic.twitter.com/dhm2c9k6Ee
— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) October 2, 2025
