WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Thursday proposed overhauling the US immigration system to favor young, educated, English-speaking applicants instead of people with family ties to Americans, a plan he will push in his 2020 re-election campaign but has little to no chance of being approved in Congress.
Trump’s plan, roundly panned by Democrats and immigration advocacy groups, is aimed at trying to unite Republicans — some who want to boost immigration, others who want to restrict it — ahead of next year’s presidential and congressional elections.
“If for some reason, possibly political, we can’t get the Democrats to approve this merit-based, high-security plan, then we will get it approved immediately after the election when we take back the House (of Representatives), keep the Senate, and, of course, hold the presidency,” Trump said in a Rose Garden address to Republican lawmakers and Cabinet members.
Currently, about two-thirds of the 1.1 million people allowed to emigrate to the United States each year are given green cards granting permanent residency because of family ties.
Trump proposed keeping the overall numbers steady, but shifting to a “merit-based” system similar to one used in Canada — a plan he said would result in 57% of green cards being based on employment and skills.
He would also end a lottery system used to give applicants from countries with low immigration rates a chance to move to the United States.
“Companies are moving offices to other countries because our immigration rules prevent them from retaining highly skilled and even, if I might, totally brilliant people,” Trump said.
The plan left aside the thorny issues of how to deal with the roughly 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally — many for years — and protections for “Dreamers” brought to the country illegally as children, a top priority for Democratic lawmakers.
It also does not include changes sought by business lobby groups to help farmers and other seasonal employers obtain more guest workers or reforms for technology visa programs.
