Voting Resources
Trump Announces White House Merit-Based Immigration Plan - What You Need to Know
Yesterday President Trump announced the immigration proposal that Jared Kushner has been working on for the Trump Administration. Although the White House has not released the specific details of the plan, the President explained that his proposal would increase border security and reform the legal immigration system to place more emphasis on merit. We have not seen the final draft, but it is doubtful this plan will initially address the 11 million undocumented immigrants, including DACA and TPS.
President Trump acknowledged that our nation needs skilled immigrants because they contribute to our economy, especially at our country’s current unemployment rate of 3.6%. “Our policies have turbo-charged the economy. Now we must implement an immigration system that will allow our citizens to prosper for generations to come,” he said.
Our current immigration system admits about 12 percent of immigrants based on their skills and about 66 percent based on family connections. Those numbers would flip to 57 and 33 percent, respectively, under the White House plan. The proposal would create a points-based system favoring high-skilled workers, lower age, English proficiency, education attainment, and whether the applicant has a well-paying job offer. That is a significant change. It certainly sounds positive.
If the goal is merit-based immigration, surely the President realizes the value of workers who have been here for years perfecting their skills with “on the job” training. President Trump should encourage Congress to create a method by which the highly skilled among the undocumented including DACA and TPS should be allowed to earn legal status.
Our economy is suffering from worker shortages in many sectors, not just doctors and engineers, but skilled craft workers as well.
The President’s plan looks like a good start. Hopefully it will lead to a method for skilled workers to earn legal status so we can ID and tax them properly. We must positively ID them and require them to work for employers that deduct and match taxes.
Please contact your lawmakers and ask them to support sensible immigration policy.
May God bless you, and may He continue to bless America.
