In a public announcement on Wednesday, President Trump put his political stamp of approval on a Senate bill that would reduce legal immigration levels over the next 10 years and add requirements, including the ability to speak English and earn a living. While the changes might be good for America and its strained social safety nets, Democrats are sure to use the proposal to attack Republicans as anti-immigration. Actually, the bill was introduced last April by Sens. Tom Cotton (Ark.) and David Perdue (Ga.) however, mainstream media outlets (some would say) obsessed with Russia collusion stories, have only sparsely reported on the proposal before today.
Republicans say lax immigration laws hurting Americans
The senators appeared with Trump today at the White House where they and the president argued that illegal-immigration along with five decades of unbridled legal immigration have wrought havoc in the job market for American citizens. In addition, the bill would attempt to insure that immigrants wishing to live in the United States assimilate into American culture. All over of the world, illegal immigration, refugees and migration is a burning political issue as the war against terror grinds on with no end in sight.
Over one million Green Cards issued annually
At issue in the U.S. is the green card program that for more than half a century has allowed for an ever-increasing flow of immigrants who often come to join a chain of relatives already here.
Currently, it is relatively easy for non-citizens to get a Green Card permit, which can be extended throughout an immigrant’s lifetime without need for them to achieve citizenship or even assimilate into American culture. Over one million people each year are granted green cards that enable them to live permanently in the US.
New law would focus on merit
The new merit-based immigration law would also end a visa diversity lotteries that give away 50,000 green cards each year to “diverse” immigrants, thereby refocusing the immigration process on attracting skilled workers. The legislation would put an annual cap on refugee levels of 50,000.
“Among those who have been hit hardest in recent years are immigrants and minority workers competing for jobs against brand new arrivals,” Trump said.
“It has not been fair to our people, our citizens and our workers.”
Democrats sure to attack proposal
Nevertheless, Democrats, after getting politically trounced in 2016, may hope to benefit from higher immigration numbers by denouncing any restraint or reform of U.S. immigration policy. On the other hand, Republicans hope U.S. voters will stand their ground against existing immigration laws that have allowed more than 11 million illegal immigrants to flood job markets in the U.S. while accepting tens of thousands more un-vetted refugees even as green card permitting soars.
