President Trump said Friday that Republican tax cuts are helping former prison inmates successfully re-enter society, and said there’s “nothing like a great economy” to help ex-cons find work.
Trump, celebrating the six-month anniversary of tax cut legislation he signed in December, highlighted inmate re-entry after noting low rates of black and Hispanic joblessness.
“Many former inmates are also getting a second chance at life,” he said during an event at the White House.
“People coming out of jail where the stigma was so great, people weren’t hiring, businesses weren’t hiring. They are hiring them now in record numbers and you know what? These businesses are saying they are fantastic,” Trump said.
“They are set. And there’s one gentleman in particular, he hired ten inmates, never did it before,” Trump said. “And he said, I wouldn’t say he said all of them, but he said seven of them are so incredible. Not a bad percentage. I think that’s a better percentage than we have.”
Trump recognized his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner after making the remarks. Kushner, whose wealthy father served a prison sentence, is leading the Trump administration’s work on criminal justice reform, including a push for prison reform legislation.
Kushner also facilitates clemency requests from people asking Trump to cut short prison sentences or issue pardons to alleviate collateral consequences of convictions.
This month, Trump issued his second prison commutation to Alice Johnson, who was serving a life sentence for drug crimes, after a meeting with celebrity advocate Kim Kardashian. Trump told reporters he wanted to consider more cases, and lists of names were hand-delivered later that day to both White House Counsel Don McGahn and Kushner.
