"The Statue of Liberty says, 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.' It doesn't say anything about speaking English or being a computer programmer," Acosta said. "Aren't you trying to change what it means to be an immigrant coming into this country if you're telling them that you have to speak English?"

Miller responded that as a requirement to be naturalized, "you have to speak English," and continued, "so the notion that speaking English wouldn't be a part of immigration systems would be very ahistorical."

He went on: "Secondly, I don't want to get off into a whole thing about history here, but the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of American liberty lighting the world. The poem that you're referring to was added later (and) is not actually part of the original Statue of Liberty."

"'Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'"

Several members of Congress expressed disappointment in Miller's remarks about immigration Wednesday, including Pennsylvania Democrat Brendan Boyle, who called it "disgusting."

The new legislation -- if passed -- would limit the types of family members of immigrants that can be brought to the US to primarily spouses and minor children, would eliminate the international diversity visa lottery, and restrict the number of annual refugee admissions.

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White House policy adviser downplays Statue of Liberty's famous poem - CNN