President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled legislation intended to
slash legal immigration to the United States by reducing the amount of
low-skilled immigrants who are allotted green cards.
“The RAISE Act ends chain migration and replaces our low-skilled system with a new points-based system,” Trump said in an announcement alongside Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, who introduced an early version of the legislation in February.
Trump said the bill would take aim at programs that predominantly admit low-skilled immigrants, which he said has displaced American workers and depressed wages. He added that the legislation is intended to favor green-card applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves, and demonstrate their skills, which he said would “reduce poverty, increase wages, and save taxpayers billions and billions.”
“It will restore the sacred bonds of trust between America and its citizens,” he added of the legislation, which is named the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act.
But immigration advocates seized upon the bill Wednesday, arguing that not only are low-skilled immigrants and refugees essential to America’s economy, but the proposed legislation does not actually create a “merit-based system” as Trump said.
Note EU-Digest: Actually not a bad plan, specially where it favors applicants who can speak the language of the country they are immigrating to, are financially able to support themselves in the initial transfer period, have a basic education and or demonstrated special skills. The EU could certainly (with some additions to cover human rights aspects) also benefit from such a program.
“The RAISE Act ends chain migration and replaces our low-skilled system with a new points-based system,” Trump said in an announcement alongside Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, who introduced an early version of the legislation in February.
Trump said the bill would take aim at programs that predominantly admit low-skilled immigrants, which he said has displaced American workers and depressed wages. He added that the legislation is intended to favor green-card applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves, and demonstrate their skills, which he said would “reduce poverty, increase wages, and save taxpayers billions and billions.”
“It will restore the sacred bonds of trust between America and its citizens,” he added of the legislation, which is named the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act.
But immigration advocates seized upon the bill Wednesday, arguing that not only are low-skilled immigrants and refugees essential to America’s economy, but the proposed legislation does not actually create a “merit-based system” as Trump said.
Note EU-Digest: Actually not a bad plan, specially where it favors applicants who can speak the language of the country they are immigrating to, are financially able to support themselves in the initial transfer period, have a basic education and or demonstrated special skills. The EU could certainly (with some additions to cover human rights aspects) also benefit from such a program.
