Merit-based immigration system necessary to match needs of US
Team Udayavani, Feb 1, 2018, 11:10 AM IST
Washington: The flood of low-skilled immigrants into the US has suppressed wages, harmed American workers, and strained federal resources, the White House said as it defended President Donald Trump’s proposal for a merit-based immigration system. According to the White House countries like Canada and Australia use a merit-based immigration system that benefits both the immigrants and those nations.
“A merit-based system would properly match the needs of the modern United States economy and protect vulnerable blue-collar American workers,” the White House said, a day after Trump in his first State of the Union address pushed for an immigration policy that attracts the best and the brightest to the US.
The White cited a recent Harvard-Harris poll, according to which 79 percent of those polled believed the immigration system should be based on an aliens ability to contribute to America as measured by their education and skills.
“The flood of low-skilled immigrants into the United States has suppressed wages, harmed American workers, and strained federal resources,” it said. The White House insisted that the time has come to enact common-sense reforms to base immigration on individual merit and skill and to emphasise close familial relationships.
“Under our current immigration law, a single immigrant may sponsor numerous relatives to resettle in the United States as lawful permanent residents, including relatives beyond their nuclear family. “Each family member of the principal immigrant who comes to the United States as a permanent resident can, in turn, sponsor relatives beyond his or her own nuclear family,” it said.
Between two-thirds and 70 per cent of legal immigration into the United States is based on family relations. Between 2005 and 2015, the United States admitted 9.3 million immigrants based on family relations, it said. “On Tuesday, Trump called for ending the visa lottery program, and therefore stopping our current practice of awarding green cards without consideration of skills or merit,” it said.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
Who would lead if US stepped off world stage? asks Biden
Sexual harassment case: HC declines to suspend prison sentence of former TN special DGP
Watch: 2 Malaysian Navy helicopters crash mid-air; 10 onboard killed
2 Indian students killed in traffic collision in Arizona
Indian-origin married man jailed in Singapore for beating girlfriend to death
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Ladakh’s lifeline reopens: Leh-Manali highway restored after five-month closure
Rahul Gandhi Mocks Opponents Over Caste Census, Likens Caste System to ‘X-Ray’
PM Modi Accuses Congress of Divisive Agenda, Seeking Votes by Implementing Religious Quotas
Don’t blame Dubai’s freak rain on cloud seeding
Ex-Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren moves SC, says HC not pronouncing verdict on his plea against arrest