President Donald Trump is continuing his fight to fulfill his campaign promises on the issue of immigration.
As Politico reports, “since Election Day, the president’s staffers have pushed through changes that make it easier to deny visas to [aliens], lengthened the citizenship test and appointed new members to an immigration policy board.”
It is rumored that the President is even looking into the possibility of issuing a much needed executive order to end the disastrous practice of birth-right citizenship, restoring the textual meaning of the 14th Amendment passed solely by Republicans in 1866.
The moves represent the solidification of the Trump administration’s improvements to the U.S.’ broken immigration system. Now, the focus appears to be safeguarding the President’s achievements against a potential victory for Joe Biden, whose woefully misguided immigration agenda appears to be nothing more than undoing whatever the President has done, according to half a dozen people familiar with the changes, says Politico.
President Trump has yet to concede the election to Biden given the mounting evidence of potential fraud all across the country, but his team has been swiftly enacting changes using the “lawful executive authority” enshrined to the Office of the President by the U.S. Constitution, primarily through rules, regulations, and admin. policy.
“Since taking office, President Trump has never shied away from using his lawful executive authority to advance bold policies and fulfill the promises he made to the American people,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere, who declined to comment on specific actions.
Trump made immigration the centerpiece of his 2016 campaign, as well as the 2018 midterm elections. But in 2020, he talked less about the issue, in large part because the election was overtaken by the Chinese Coronavirus, which has killed over 265,000 Americans and spurred harmful government reactions that decimated the economy.
Biden has vowed that if he should win the election he would undo Trump’s immigration policies and push Congress to craft “comprehensive immigration reform.” Many know the task won’t be simple though, In recent decades, Congress has repeatedly tried and failed to enact what they call major overhauls to the immigration system. And any executive action or new law is expected to face massive legal challenges.
While the President and his new policies may be under some time crunch, Trump’s aides are showing signs of long-term planning. “The Acting Secretary of DHS, Chad Wolf, just named two new members to an advisory council to help him craft policy — Tom Jenkins, the fire chief in Rogers, Ark., and Catherine Lotrionte, a senior researcher at Georgetown University. And they’re launching some changes that can be enacted swiftly,” reports Politico.
The article continued:
On Nov. 13, the administration announced that starting next month, the citizenship test would include more questions about American history and politics. The revised questionnaire, which received some criticism, will increase from 100 to 128 questions.
Four days later, the administration said it would also give federal officials more discretion in approving an immigration application through updates to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Policy Manual. The changes will provide officers with an expanded list of positive and negative factors they can use to either accept or reject applicants, stating that the new language would make the decisions more consistent and fair.
That same day, the administration published a proposed rule that would limit work permits for immigrants awaiting deportation, after being found removable by a judge, but not in custody.
The administration is also trying to push through some more restrictions to the H-1B high-skilled worker visa program, which has been a proven tool of U.S. employers to replace American workers with cheaper, more dependent foreign labor.
Some advocacy groups, like NumbersUSA, are continuing to push the Administration to fulfill its promises to the American people, especially American laborers given the rousing support in public opinion the President’s immigration policies have garnered.
Chris Chmielenski, Deputy Director at NumbersUSA, said he hopes the administration will also limit a program that provides work permits for international students, noting that the Administration has continuously talked about such a policy, but never acted:
When it comes to the promises the president made before he was elected and even after he was elected, we’d like to see him follow through. Past administrations have done it. This is something they do.
For the complete article, please visit Politico.
