President Trump and the White House released a detailed set of immigration principles on October 8, 2017. The principles reflect many of the campaign promises Pres. Trump made on the campaign trail and suggest implementing many of the reforms recommended by the last bipartisan Congressional commission on immigration reform chaired by Barbara Jordan.
The reforms cover three specific areas: boosting border security, strengthening interior enforcement, including a requirement that all employers use the E-Verify system to check the eligibility of all new hires, and reforming the existing green card system by ending chain migration and the visa lottery and replacing the current employment-based preference categories with a new merit-based points system.
"Most politicians who have been commenting lately on immigration policy have failed to show the compassion and support that the Trump Administration is offering the women and men of America who want a decent shot at a decent job without having to compete with millions of new foreign workers being added to compete with them."
-- Roy Beck, President & Founder of NumbersUSA
Trump Administration Immigration Policy Priorities
BORDER SECURITY
Build a southern border wall and close legal loopholes that enable illegal immigration and swell the court backlog.
- Fund and complete construction of the southern border wall.
- Authorize the Department of Homeland Security to raise and collect fees from visa services and border-crossings
- Fund border security and enforcement activities.
- Ensure the safe and expeditious return of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and family units.
- End abuse of our asylum system by tightening standards, imposing penalties for fraud, and ensuring detention while claims are verified.
- Remove illegal border crossers quickly by hiring an additional 370 Immigration Judges and 1,000 ICE attorneys.
- Discourage illegal re-entry by enhancing penalties and expanding categories of inadmissibility.
- Improve expedited removal.
- Increase northern border security.
INTERIOR ENFORCEMENT
Enforce our immigration laws and return visa overstays.
- Protect innocent people in sanctuary cities.
- Authorize and incentivize States and localities to help enforce Federal immigration laws.
- Strengthen law enforcement by hiring 10,000 more ICE officers and 300 Federal prosecutors.
- End visa overstays by establishing reforms to ensure their swift removal.
- Stop catch-and-release by correcting judicial actions that prevent ICE from keeping dangerous aliens in custody pending removal and expanding the criteria for expedited removal.
- Prevent gang members from receiving immigration benefits.
- Protect U.S. workers by requiring E-Verify and strengthening laws to stop employment discrimination against U.S. workers.
- Improve visa security by expanding State Department’s authority to combat visa fraud, ensuring funding of the Visa Security Program, and expanding it to high-risk posts.
MERIT-BASED IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
Establish reforms that protect American workers and promote financial success.
- End extended-family chain migration by limiting family-based green cards to include spouses and minor children.
- Establish a points-based system for green cards to protect U.S. workers and taxpayers.
