In the News

Trump immigration plan stresses merit over family ties; Arkansas congressman calls it opportunity to restart negotiations

By ADG

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump unveiled a new immigration plan Thursday to move U.S. immigration toward a "merit-based system" that prioritizes high-skilled workers over those with relatives already in the country.

The plan, which does not address the fate of young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and are now in the country illegally, has been greeted with skepticism by lawmakers in both parties.

"Today we are presenting a clear contrast," Trump said in a speech in the White House's Rose Garden. "Democrats are proposing open borders, lower wages and, frankly, lawless chaos. We are proposing an immigration plan that puts the jobs, wages and safety of American workers first. Our proposal is pro-American, pro-immigrant and pro-worker. It's just common sense."

Since Trump sought to end President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for young people known as "Dreamers," providing protections from deportations for those young people has been a priority for Democrats.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said early Thursday that the immigration proposal does not include such protections because the issue is too divisive.

"Every single time we have put forward or anyone else has put forward any type of immigration plan and it's included DACA, it's failed. It's a divisive thing," Sanders told reporters at the White House, adding that the issue was "left out on purpose."

Trump said the plan would not change the number of green cards allocated each year but would prioritize high-skilled workers over those with family members already in the country. It would allow applicants to rack up eligibility based on factors such as age, ability to speak English, job offers and educational background.

"If adopted, our plan will transform America's immigration system into the pride of our nation and the envy of the modern world," he said.

He blasted the country's current immigration laws as "senseless," arguing that awarding some green cards by lottery "is contrary to American values" and calling for the U.S. to "create a clear path for top talent."

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, created by Obama through executive action in 2012, has provided renewable two-year work permits to more than 800,000 migrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

Trump moved to terminate the program in the fall of 2017, calling it unconstitutional, but federal courts have enjoined the administration from stripping the protections from those already enrolled in it, and the case could go before the Supreme Court in the next term.

Trump has said he hopes the court permits him to end the program, which he believes would give him more leverage to negotiate a broader immigration overhaul with Democrats.

House Democrats have put forward a bill that would offer a path to citizenship for program recipients, as well as for people who are living in the U.S. under temporary protected status, which Trump has also sought to end.

Speaking to reporters, Sanders said protections offered through the deferred-action program are "certainly something to discuss and look at and address."

"But this plan is focused on a different part of fixing the immigration system, and we'd like for people to not reject it before they even sit down and really learn about it," she said.

Trump's new plan has been months in the making, a project of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has been meeting privately with business groups, religious leaders and conservatives to find common ground among Republicans on an issue that has long divided the party.

Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., who attended Thursday's Rose Garden ceremony, said he's glad that the president is highlighting the need for immigration changes, even if there are obstacles that make it hard to pass legislation anytime soon.

"The president suggested today that it might well have to wait until 2021," the lawmaker from Little Rock said. "But it's important that he continue to educate the American citizens and our Legislature about the need for it, about the logic for it. So while I'm not hopeful that it will be considered before the Congress immediately, I am hopeful that over time we can build a consensus to move in this direction."

In a written statement, Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said the president has put forward "key elements to fix our broken system, fully secure the border, and prioritize a merit-based process," adding, "I truly hope Congress will see this as an opportunity to restart stalled negotiations on this issue and address the humanitarian and security crisis at our border."

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who oversees immigration legislation, said Kushner's bill isn't going to become law. "We all know you're not going to pass this without dealing with the other aspects of immigration," he said Wednesday.

Graham plans to move ahead instead with a narrowly targeted effort to overhaul asylum laws for migrants from Central America, and urged the president to work with Democrats to forge a compromise to do so.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., panned Trump's plan before its formal release.

"Truth be told, the reported White House plan isn't a serious attempt at immigration reform," he said during remarks on the Senate floor. "If anything, it's a political document that is anti-immigration reform. It repackages the same partisan, radical, anti-immigrant policies that the administration has pushed for the two years -- all of which have struggled to earn even a simple majority in the Senate let alone 60 votes."

At a news conference Thursday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she favors bipartisan "comprehensive" change and that her chamber plans to act on several fronts, including protections for Dreamers.

Pelosi said she had yet to be briefed on Trump's plan but took issue with the use of the term "merit."

"It is really a condescending word," she said.

"Are they saying family is without merit?" she asked. "Are they saying most of the people who've come to the United States in the history of our country are without merit because they don't have an engineering degree?"

GREEN CARDS

Trump's proposal won't advance through Congress without buy-in from Democrats and is instead designed more as a messaging document from the White House that details Trump's immigration ideas.

Senior White House officials briefed Republican congressional aides on the administration's new policy Thursday morning -- stressing that the plan would still prioritize immediate families while doling out more generous numbers of green cards based on a person's skills and educational background.

About 1 million foreigners are granted green cards every year. Unlike with previous White House proposals, the administration took pains to ensure that the net number of green cards -- which grant foreigners legal permanent residency in the United States -- stayed the same as it is currently so that the overall level of immigration would not be cut.

Under the new system, about 57% of green cards would be issued on merit, compared with about 12% now, according to White House aides Brooke Rollins and Mercedes Schlapp, who briefed GOP aides Thursday. About two-thirds of green cards are currently based on family ties, but the new White House proposal would slash that percentage to about a third, according to an official who attended the briefing.

The plan, White House officials said at the briefing, was primarily to unify Republicans and to show "what we can all be for," said the official, who requested anonymity to detail a private discussion.

The new system, as White House officials described it, would create a two-step process that begins with a civics test and a background check. Then green card applicants would be evaluated on the new points system.

The White House also asked GOP aides to avoid using the phrase "chain migration" -- a term often invoked by the president to refer to the process of sponsoring foreigners, particularly parents and siblings, based on familial relations.

Kushner's team has tried, with mixed results, to build support for the plan.

During a Roosevelt Room briefing with surrogates Wednesday afternoon, Kushner described the new proposal as a "starting point," according to an attendee, and the president's son-in-law said the White House was not under any illusions that it would easily get through.