Trump’s view of immigration could best be described as “xenophobic” until his new plan was offered this week. It is described as one that strikes a long needed balance between being “human” and having “common sense.”
US industries were beginning to suffer from our current restrictive policies as positions that required skilled labor we needed globally to maintain competitive. Every one of these high skill foreign workers create support jobs for US citizens.
In addition, Trump’s new approach to immigration that focuses on the skills one brings rather than on whether one has family, is similar to that of the immigration policies of countries around the world, including our neighbor to the north, Canada.
The Center for Immigration Studies noted in a statement that “President Trump has unveiled his new immigration plan, which shifts legal immigration away from chain migration and toward a merit-based system and strengthens immigration enforcement, but does not reduce total levels of immigration.
“Mark Krikorian, the Center’s Executive Director, said, ‘This plan represents a very positive effort on immigration, and includes important provisions such as limits to chain migration, closing the loopholes that are allowing the flow of drugs and migrants at the southern border and a crackdown on visa overstays. It is concerning there was no mention of E-Verify. However, it is not likely to become legislation, but is rather a statement of the president’s goals. As such, the fact that it does not even call for a modest reduction in total immigration, but instead offsets decreases with increases in ‘skills-based’ immigration, is very concerning.'”
President Trump outlined his plan in a speech this week:
Fox News describes the plan as a “game changer’:
“Even before the president did a microphone check for his immigration and border security speech in the White House Rose Garden Thursday afternoon, his critics were saying they hated his plan,” James Carafano writes in Fox News.
“Good. That means he must be more right than wrong.”
President Trump laid out his proposal for changing America’s broken immigration system yesterday, transforming “the legal system first to one bringing in workers based on merit,” Carafano writes. “Today almost 90 percent of legal immigrants are extended family members, visa lottery winners and status adjustments. About 10 percent is based on merit. Let’s change that.”
In a statement from the White House obtained by USA Daily Post, we see the following highlights from the proposal:
“Here is a rundown of the most important proposals from the President’s speech:
- “Create a permanent, self-sustaining border security trust fund for law enforcement, financed with fees collected at the border crossings themselves
- “Restore integrity to America’s broken asylum process by expediting relief for legitimate asylum seekers—and sending those who abuse the system home
- “Modernize the dysfunctional legal immigration process by increasing the number of legal immigrants selected based on skill or merit from 12 percent to 57 percent
- “Prioritize the immediate family of new immigrants—spouses and children—by moving them to the front of the line over distant relatives who use family claims as a tool to get ahead in the queue
- “Establish a standard, universal, points-based criteria for admission to the United States, no matter where you are born or who you are related to
“The big idea in President Trump’s plan is that “pro-America” and “pro-immigrant” are synonyms, not opposites. Illegal immigration hurts everyone. A random, unfair entry process hurts everyone. And underfunded law enforcement hurts everyone.
‘The only ones opposed to a safer, stronger immigration system are the special interests profiting off the status quo. That includes everyone from the corporations who exploit cheap, illegal labor to the politicians who benefit from never resolving the issue.
“‘Many of the Democrats have claimed to be for these concepts at different times in their careers and, in many cases, in very recent history,” President Trump said today. “And I hope that they will end up joining me and all of the people gathered together today in putting politics aside, putting security and wages first, and pursuing these historic reforms. It’s time.'”
