POTUS, GOP Senators Unveil Major Reforms To Slash Legal Immigration

President Trump, alongside Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Senator David Perdue (R-GA), announced plans for sweeping changes to legal immigration to the United States. 

Washington Examiner reports:

President Trump announced Wednesday he will support a revised Senate bill that would implement a merit-based point system for foreigners who apply for legal permanent status through the employment-based admissions side.

The Washington Examiner first reported Tuesday evening Republican Sens. David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas would meet with Trump on Wednesday to privately, then publicly, unveil an immigration bill, which was presumed to be an updated version of the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act.

Trump’s endorsement marks the beginning of a push toward a radically different legal immigration policy in the United States compared to the one that’s been in place for the past several decades.

It also marks a new approach to immigration reform than Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida had attempted in 2013 with the “Gang of Eight” bill.

Author Ann Coulter expressed her excitement over the announcement.

“.@realDonaldTrump announces 1st change to immigration policy in 50 years!!!!!! We will FINALLY take immigrants who are better than us!”, Coulter tweeted.

Cotton and Perdue have been pushing for legal immigration reform for months. “Striking findings” in data compiled by National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine sparked the conversation about developing reforms to the current legal immigration system.

An earlier version of the bill proposed in February by Senators David Perdue and Tom Cotton was also expected to cut legal immigration from 1 million to 500,000 each year. It called for limiting admission for migrants’ family members, ending the diversity visa lottery program and making the process of obtaining “green card” work permits much more difficult.

“Senator Cotton and Senator Perdue are continuing to build on the RAISE act they introduced earlier this year and hope to introduce a new bill soon,” Communications Director for Cotton, Caroline Rabbitt, replied when VOA requested an interview with Cotton.

But “I would be nervous if we cut the number of immigrants by 50 percent,” Kim Rueben, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, told VOA.

Explaining why, Rueben said one of the most “striking findings” of research she participated in with the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine was that starting in 2020 the only increases in the U.S. labor-force are expected to come from immigrants and the children of immigrants.

 

 

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