dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4753820/Trump-backs-plan-halve-legal-immigration-2027.html
President Donald Trump endorsed a plan this morning that will halve legal immigration levels beginning in 2027 and dramatically cut down on the number of green cards that are doled out to low-skilled workers.
The immigration system currently weighs familial ties in deciding who gets to come to the US. Two U.S Senators, Tom Cotton and David Perdue, want candidates with the most valuable skills to jump to the front of the line.
They unveiled legislation at the White House today that would replace the current green card system with a competitive application process that gives English speakers and applicants with desirable skill sets an edge.
Trump said in remarks that he delivered alongside the senators that the present policy 'has placed substantial pressure on American worker, taxpayers and community resources.'
'It has not been fair to our people, to our citizens, to our workers,' he asserted.
Only a fifth of immigrants coming to the US currently are being admitted based on job-based factors, according to the New York Times.
Migration Policy Institute data from 2014 shows that 64 percent of immigrants were immediate family members or sponsored family members of American citizens, while 15 percent we admitted because of their skill set.
Another 13 percent of immigrants were admitted through the refugee and asylum programs and five percent won their entry through the State Department’s diversity lottery.
Trump told Congress in his first joint address to lawmakers in February that he wants to switch to a 'merit-based' system of immigration.
'It’s a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially, yet in America, we do not enforce this rule, straining the very public resources that our poorest citizens rely upon,' Trump said.
'Switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration, and instead adopting a merit-based system, we will have so many more benefits,' he contended. 'It will save countless dollars, raise workers’ wages, and help struggling families - including immigrant families - enter the middle class.'
The White House said Wednesday that Trump wants to adopt an immigration system like Canada's or Australia's.
Canada scores applicants based on their language proficiency, financial stability, employment prospects and educational background.
Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to the president has been working on the legislation with Cotton and Perdue.
A spokeswoman for Sen. Cotton told The Weekly Standard in advance of the measure's unveiling that the bill would create a 'skills-based immigration system.'
'Our current immigration system is outdated and doesn’t meet the diverse needs of our economy,' said Cotton aide Caroline Rabbitt.
The rate of legal immigration would fall overall from 1 million people per year to 500,000 if Perdue and Cotton's reforms are enacted.
A White House official told Politico in July that the aim of the reforms were to 'reduce low-skilled immigration substantially, which will protect American workers and recent immigrants themselves.'
'In order to be eligible for citizenship, you'll have to demonstrate you are self-sufficient and you don't receive welfare,' the official said.
Whether the legislation will even make it to the finish line is up for debate, however.
'It's a difficult one in the current Congress, and we know that,' a second Trump aide admitted to Politico.
The measure is sure to be opposed by the same Democrats on Capitol Hill who have fought Trump's other immigration actions tooth and nail.
The president's deportation policies have broken up families whose only crime is their illegal entry into the country, they say.
His Middle East travel ban that sought to exclude grandparents and cousins from coming to the US under a familial ties provision was another point of contention. The Supreme Court overruled the administration last month and said that both count as 'close family.'