Roque Planas;
President Donald Trump offered a broad outline of his administration’s new dead-on-arrival immigration plan Thursday, seeking to rake in more money for border enforcement while restricting family-based migration and upping the number of visas for skilled workers.
“The Democrats are proposing open borders, lower wages and frankly lawless chaos,” said Trump in a speech from the White House Rose Garden. “We propose an immigration plan that puts jobs, wages and the safety of American workers first.” He outlined a “Build America Visa,” which would prioritize younger workers as well as those with valuable skills and offers of employment.
But the plan is likely to go nowhere.
The proposal, which has yet to be filed as legislation, combines elements of reform long advocated by immigration hard-liners like White House adviser Stephen Miller and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who rail against both the rising levels of unauthorized migration and the way the legal immigration system is structured. It is also the product of White House adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s attempts to broker a compromise on one of the most vexing issues Congress has faced over the last decade.
The effort at compromise didn’t extend to Democrats, who control the House of Representatives and hold enough seats in the Senate to block legislation. Some have already dismissed the proposal, which lacks protections for so-called Dreamers who came to the U.S. as kids. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the failure to include Dreamers makes it “pretty much a nonstarter.” Plus, Democrats and have little incentive to cooperate with Trump ahead of the 2020 elections, which could give them a shot at broader immigration reform.
