“They’re not going to come in and immediately go and collect welfare”
At the White House on Wednesday President Donald Trump unveiled a major overhaul of the U. S. immigration system. Trump endorsed GOP legislation that aims to slash legal immigration levels by more than half and introduce a “merit-based” system that prioritizes high-skilled immigrants for entry. Standing next to Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and David Perdue, R-Ga., the president said the RAISE Act (Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act) would be the “biggest change in 50 years” to the U. S immigration system. “The RAISE Act will reduce poverty, increase wages and save taxpayers billions and billions of dollars, ” Trump said. The current immigration system, according to Trump, “has not been fair to our people, to our citizens, to our workers.” “This legislation demonstrates our passion for struggling American families, ” he added. The two Republican senators “have been working closely” with White House adviser Stephen Miller, who is “known for his hawkish stance on immigration, ” to Politico. Miller is also one of the of the president’s travel ban of citizens from six Muslim-majority countries. The merit-based system the legislation proposes would “increase the number of green cards — which allow for permanent residency in the U. S. — that are granted on the basis of merit to foreigners in a series of categories including outstanding professors and researchers, those holding advanced degrees, and those with extraordinary ability in a particular field, ” according to Politico. But the bill is rooted in misleading depictions of immigration, as economists have said slowing the flow of legal immigrants into the country would be a “grave mistake.” In a recent of 18 economists, almost all (89 percent) disagreed with Trump’s proposal to slash legal immigration levels by more than half. “Restricting immigration will only condemn us to chronically low rates of economic growth, ” Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, told the Post. “It also increases the risk of the recession.” While many economists and business leaders have supported a merit-based approach to immigration, similar to the processes in Canada and Australia, the plan to “slash the number of green cards from 1 million a year to 500,000 over the next decade” poses a major risk to the economy, economists said. The Post elaborated:
