Immigration Reform News 2017: Trump Supports Proposal for Skills-Based Immigration System
U.S. President Donald Trump backs the new legislation from Republican senators David Perdue and Tom Cotton that could limit the legal immigration number in the country.
During his latest speech at the White House, Trump shared his support to the proposed legislation that will use a skills-based immigration system under the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act.
The proposed bill aims to restrict the "chain migration" system where family members of U.S. immigrants are able to get into the country based on their relations and not on their skills. If approved, it will only allow primary spouses and minor children to be brought by the immigrants to the country.
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According to Trump, the proposal from Perdue and Cotton will benefit the American workers because it will lessen the unskilled immigrants who are taking over their jobs. "It has not been fair to our people, to our citizens, to our workers," the president said in a recent speech.
"The RAISE Act prevents new migrants and new immigrants from collecting welfare, and protects U.S. workers from being displaced. And that's a very big thing. They're not going to come in and just immediately go and collect welfare. That doesn't happen under the RAISE Act. They can't do that," Trump also stated in the same speech.
However, reports claim that the RAISE Act could still face several challenges from a number of legislators since there are a lot of businesses in the country that rely heavily on foreign workers.
According to reports, a number of Democrats and immigrant and refugee advocacy organizations will likely oppose the new bill. Yet due to the strong support of the president, both Perdue and Cotton feel positive that their proposal will be approved by the Congress in the coming days.
