Donald Trump Proposes Expansion Of White-Collar ‘Merit-Based’ Immigration
On Tuesday, during a speech given in the Rose Garden, President Donald Trump announced that he plans to expand “merit” immigration that favors higher-skilled migrants, Breitbart reported.
“In the not-too-distant future, pretty soon I’m going to be signing a new immigration action — very, very big merit-based immigration action … it’s going to be based on merit,” Trump said. “It’s going to be very strong.”
The president also took aim at Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s alleged plan to expand low-skilled immigration for the blue-collar labor market.
“Think of that: Vastly expand low-skilled immigration to the United States. These are the things that are in the plan. This is Biden. Biden has gone radical left. Increase refugee admissions by 700 percent. Huh. That’s a lot.”
As reported by Slate, Biden’s immigration plan aims to admit 125,000 refugees to America — a jump from the 18,000 cap under Trump and more than former President Barack Obama admitted. In addition, Biden has pledged to work with Congress to establish a minimum admission target of 95,000 refugees annually.
During his Rose Garden speech, Trump also claimed he would endorse some form of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides legal status for young migrants that reside in the United States because their parents immigrated illegally.
“I’m going to take care of DACA much better than the Democrats did. The Democrats had their chance, and they blew it.”
Per Bloomberg, Trump previously tried to end the DACA program, which was created during the Barack Obama administration. However, the president’s efforts were shot down by the Supreme Court.
Breitbart called Trump’s new approach to immigration “puzzling,” noting that since his election in 2016 — after he campaigned on a hardline immigration approach — the president has worked to block new illegal immigration and clamp down on asylum seekers from Mexico.
According to Bloomberg, Trump is attempting to bring immigration to the forefront again because of the success the issue brought him in 2016. The publication noted that this reprisal comes as recent polls show the president lagging behind Biden. In addition, Breitbart claimed that Trump’s recent push for white-collar immigration is due to pressure from business groups and advisers. An immigration boost in the form of white-collar workers would reportedly allow CEOs and investors to cut their payroll costs, which would purportedly gain them an increase in stock prices.
Despite the Trump administration’s efforts against immigration, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was previously caught on tape claiming that the United States is in need of new immigrants.
