Trump’s new immigration plan, an ace he pulled out of his sleeve to give residency cards to foreigners with labor qualities necessary for the country, is a political turnaround with which the White House Chief tries to break the deadlock of this issue.
According to the Washington administration, the legal immigration system is going to give preference to green cards for immigrants based on their job skills rather than family reunification.
The goal is to increase the proportion of immigrants who obtain permanent residence because of their talent, studies or work from the current 12% to 57%, while those who obtain it through family ties are reduced from 66% to 33% and those who obtain it for humanitarian or diversity reasons from 22% to 10%.
But there are already warning signs that neither the White House proposal nor the bills introduced on Capitol Hill can bridge deep political divisions in the 2020 elections.
In an effort to speed things up, President Trump said on Twitter on Friday that “all people that are illegally coming into the United States now will be removed from our country at a later date” and called for Democratic support for his immigration plan.
On Thursday, during a speech at the White House, Trump enumerated the objectives of a reform of the legal immigration system that has not yet been articulated as a bill and that will hardly succeed in a divided Congress and in full campaign for the 2020 presidential election.
“Democrats now realize that there is a national emergency at the border and that, if we work together, it can be immediately fixed,” Trump wrote in a series of messages on Twitter. “We need Democrat votes and all will be well,” he added.
The Democrats now realize that there is a National Emergency at the Border and that, if we work together, it can be immediately fixed. We need Democrat votes and all will be well!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2019
Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives and Republicans control the Senate.
“Border Patrol is apprehending record numbers of people at the Southern border,” the U.S. president added. ‘The bad Hombres’, of which there are many, are being detained and will be sent home”.
Border Patrol is apprehending record numbers of people at the Southern Border. The bad “hombres,” of which there are many, are being detained & will be sent home. Those which we release under the ridiculous Catch & Telease loophole, are being registered and will be removed later!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2019
“All people that are illegally coming into the United States now will be removed from our country at a later date, as we build up our removal forces and as the laws are changed,” Trump continued.
“Please do not make yourselves too comfortable,” the U.S. president wrote, apparently referring to undocumented immigrants “you´ll be leaving soon”.
All people that are illegally coming into the United States now will be removed from our Country at a later date as we build up our removal forces and as the laws are changed. Please do not make yourselves too comfortable, you will be leaving soon!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2019
For their part, Republican lawmakers recognize that Trump’s plan has more to do with unifying the party around a “merit-based” plan and giving them a rhetorical tool to use against Democrats.
“We all know you´re not going to pass this without dealing with the other aspects of immigration But the point of getting the party united behind a merit-based immigration proposal based and border security is a significant step,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, on Trump’s proposal.
He added that the White House plan “is not designed to become law. … the White House plan is trying to unite the Republican Party.”
Immigration law reform was one of Trump’s biggest promises in his 2016 presidential campaign, focused on building a wall along the border with Mexico.
The proposal unveiled Thursday would keep intact the number of permanent residence permits the country grants each year, but would change the profile of the recipients of that 1.1 million “green cards”.
Translated by: José Espinoza
Noticias Newswire
