Trump unveils bill to transform legal immigration system and institute "a skill-based system that operates on the basis of individual merits. "

Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 8 months ago to Government
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From the article:
President Donald Trump introduced a bill on Wednesday to create a new legal immigration formula for the United States, which he says emphasizes merit in an effort to protect American workers and the American economy.

"I campaigned on creating a merit-based immigration system that protects U.S. workers and taxpayers," President Trump said at the White House Wednesday. "[This bill] will reduce poverty, increase wages and save taxpayers billions and billions of dollars."

The legislation, called The Raise Act, aims to replace the current permanent employment-immigration framework, which has been characterized by the Trump administration as a “lottery system,” with what it is calling a skill-based system that operates on the basis of individual merits. The new competitive application process will favor those who possess skills that will benefit the U.S. economy, can speak english and are able to financially support themselves and their families, Trump said.

The measure is based on a bill that was developed in Congress by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. David Perdue (R- Ga.) and could slash the number of legal immigrants admitted to the country by curbing family-based immigration.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 1,051,000 individuals became permanent residents in 2015.

All Comments

  • Posted by mccannon01 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "None of us have the time or the interest to verify EVERYTHING they lie about."
    HAD to +1 THAT!!! :-)
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  • Posted by JuliBMe 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    No need to be embarrassed. The "media" and the left (but I repeat myself) makes it their mission to confuse and misinform. None of us have the time or the interest to verify EVERYTHING they lie about.
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  • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thank you. I'm embarrassed to say, having seen the Stature of Liberty hundreds of times from a passing distance (land and sea), that I never looked into her enough to learn the historical information have shared. Appreciated.
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  • Posted by JuliBMe 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Correct. The Statue of Liberty is a figure of a robed woman representing Libertas, a Roman goddess. The French, named it "Liberty Enlightens the World". She is facing the World, not the US. She is walking towards the world (though it is hard to see that with her robes) and her tablet is inscribed with "July IV MDCCLXXVI" July 4, 1776. This, obviously, has NOTHING to do with immigration. Her purpose is to admonish us all to EXPORT Liberty, not IMPORT ignorance. We have enough of that on our own!
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thanks for jogging my memory. Now I remember reading about that a long, long time ago.
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  • Posted by 1musictime 7 years, 8 months ago
    It's to ascertain what number of immigrants believe in global warming or not.Smart enough not to bring a flat society may be more beneficial.Various enemies may want to be less than the Borg and believe Earth is a spaceship resembling theirs.No rationalists may want to prevent the enemies to get off Earth in the manner of their beliefs and kindred pertinences.Also what number of immigrants may be God-fearing people?A basis of asking is the insertion of the name in one of the sentences below.A number of immigrants may talk greater English and indicates more competence at various professions and are more moral and innocent than numbers of people born in America.
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  • Posted by mccannon01 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The only use I have for the local socialist rag in my town is as a fire starter for the charcoal chimney when I'm getting ready to BBQ. Oh wait... it not bad for starting the workshop wood stove in the winter, either.
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  • Posted by mccannon01 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Exactly, JuliBMe. The Statue Of Liberty did not come with the now famous poem. The statue was meant to be a beacon of American liberty to the rest of the world and had nothing to do with immigration right from the get-go. The poem came much later when it won a contest set in motion to help raise money to buy the pedestal the Statue Of Liberty sets on. Besides, contrary to what leftists believe and are trying to sell the rest of us, the poem is not the basis of immigration law, the Constitution is.
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  • Posted by JuliBMe 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Just another example of the left's successful DISinformation campaign. It's the Statue of LIBERTY, not the Statue of IMMIGRATION.

    Trump is actually returning the statue to its original symbolism.
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    When I was considering a long term visa application I had the medical exams as required for an over 50 immigrant with a business sponsor. Mine was not extensive, the cost was minimal, but I did it while I was in Australia, which I conclude made it much easier.
    Instead of completing the application (the sponsorship fell through) I just used the easy 90 day electronic visa, and flew out to NZ for a weekend every 3 months. Immigration allowed that for a year and then informed me I had to leave for at least a year. That kind of thing is complicated because you also have to have either a long term visa in NZ, or an airline ticket out of NZ to a country where you have a guaranteed visa- like the US for a US citizen. It cost me a $200 extra throw away ticket in one instance before Australian immigration would allow me to fly to NZ to comply with the 90 day expiration of my Australian visa. This all happened at the airport at the last minute before my flight for NZ was to depart.
    Immigration law does not have to be rational in any regime where bureaucrats enforce laws in order to enhance their own power (and revenue.)
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thanks for posting, Storo. Very interesting.
    On that topic, I have been visiting LA this summer, and last weekend I had to go to the Glendale Galleria shopping mall. For someone who hasn't lived in LA for over 25 years, I was surprised that the demographic of shoppers was over 99% Latino, with a very few Asians and Caucasians. Kennedy was very successful in changing LA.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 7 years, 8 months ago
    A year ago, I would have said, "no way." But with the advent of Trump - WAY?
    I used to love the poem on the Statue. Now, I'm not so sure. Perhaps we have too many tempest tossed and not enough of those who keep them fed.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I completely agree that while the immigration system is a plus, the socialized health care system is a disaster for all the reasons you mention and more. What people might not know about Australia is that even to be admitted as a tourist into that nation requires some costly health checkups prior to be granted a visa. My brother spent six months over there touring around on his own dime, but had to spend $2000 for the paperwork - including expensive and thorough medical examinations by Australian-recognized specialists (hint: none in our area) - and the tests just to be a tourist. And those are all a result of the socialized medicine system!
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  • Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thanks for noting that, blarman. I spent several years in Oz and NZ and became very familiar with their immigration system. The only argument I had with it was that it was biased against people over 50. (Oz only allows older people to immigrate who invest $4 million in a business, or who have Australian corporate sponsors that can justify hiring the specific skill of that person and pay significant extra immigration fees.) I conclude that is their way to prevent immigration of people who might become a burden on their socialist health care system without "contributing" to the system for more than 20 years. Unfortunately, it defeats the merit system as many older people have much higher levels of competency and skill.
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  • Posted by Storo 7 years, 8 months ago
    The US used to have immigration policies in place that were very much in line with, if not exactly the same as, what Trump is promoting. That all changed in 1965 as a result of Ted Kennedy and his accomplices pushing through a new immigration bill that destroyed the rational immigration policies that had been in place since the 1920s.
    Below is a link to a NumbersUSA piece written by Roy Beck from 2009 that is an overview of Kennedy's horrific legacy on immigration. It's worth the read.

    https://www.numbersusa.com/content/nu...
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  • Posted by scojohnson 7 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Liberalism never accounts for the lazy in society (mostly because the liberals tend to be the lazy ones). Conservatives own businesses, and employ people, and know first hand the differences that exist in work ethic.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 7 years, 8 months ago
    Having lived in Australia, and recently visited New Zealand, I can tell you that residents in those countries were flabbergasted at how lax our immigration laws are, and how we don't even enforce those weak laws. The U.S. stands alone as the one developed country that has nearly open borders, with absolutely no requirement for education or skills for entry. If it wasn't for our natural barriers in the form of oceans, we'd be overrun by migratory invaders.
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