What is the new policy?
Since President Trump took office, his
administration has dramatically cut
the number of people obtaining lawful
permanent residence—in other words,
a green card—from 1,063,289 during
the 2016 fiscal year to about 577,
in 2019. The number of visas issued to
people intending to immigrate has fallen
from 617,752 to 462,422 over the same
period. Critics charge that the adminis-
tration’s efforts are racially motivated,
since they disproportionately affect
lower-income immigrants from Africa,
Latin America, and Asia. They point to
Trump’s repeated attacks on the diversity
visa lottery program that annually grants entry to 50,000 immi-
grants from what Trump has described as “shithole countries.”
The administration counters that it’s just emphasizing merit and
skill and protecting the American taxpayer from a drain on the
social safety net. What isn’t in dispute is the effect: “I don’t think
we have seen any modern president engage in an effort to reduce
the number of immigrants the way this president has,” said Kevin
Johnson, dean of the University of California–Davis’ law school.How has that been accomplished?
With a large number of rule changes. Rules for applying for asylum
have been tightened, forcing 60,000 people to wait in camps in
Mexico as their applications are processed. The administration has
capped the admissible number of refugees fleeing violence or per-
secution at a historic low of 18,000, down from 110,000 in 2016.
In January, Trump expanded his travel
ban to 13 countries, including Nigeria,
which accounted for almost 8,000 visas
during the 2018 fiscal year. Also in 2018,
officials announced they would begin
summarily rejecting applications for
visas and green cards that contained any
mistakes or missing documents, without
allowing the applicant to correct the
error. Average wait times on the process-
ing of such applications had doubled
by the end of 2018, and officials are
now insisting in most cases on in-person
interviews. “He’s really ticking off all
the boxes,” said Sarah Pierce, an ana-
lyst with the Migration Policy Institute
(MPI), a nonpartisan research group. “In
an administration that’s been perceived
to be haphazard, on immigration they’ve
been extremely consistent and barrel-
ing forward.” The public charge rule is
another example of the White House’s
efforts to restrict legal immigration.What is the public charge rule?
Reportedly “a singular obsession” of
Trump adviser Stephen Miller, it could
prove the most significant change to
immigration policy yet. Originally,
the public charge rule was part of theImmigration Act of 1891 and was
used to deny applications from “idiots,
insane persons, paupers, or persons
likely to become a public charge.” But
in August, the administration broad-
ened that evaluation to include 20 sepa-
rate factors, including English-language
proficiency, credit scores, student loans,
income level, and whether an applicant
had received “noncash benefits for basic
needs.” In announcing the policy, Ken
Cuccinelli, director of U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services, altered
the poem at the feet of the Statue of
Liberty, saying, “Give me your tired
and your poor who can stand on their
own two feet and who will not become a public charge.” A study
by the MPI found the new rules could potentially have blocked
about two-thirds of green card recipients from 2012 to 2016. In
January, the Supreme Court lifted two separate injunctions that
allowed the administration to proceed with the public charge rule,
which has been called “a wealth test” for immigrants.What about fees?
They are being raised across the board, in an apparent attempt to
dissuade the poor from even applying. There’s a new $50 fee on
applications for asylum, for example, which many destitute people
fleeing drug gangs or political persecution can’t pay. In November,
Trump issued a proclamation that all green card applicants had
to prove to a consular officer that they plan to buy health insur-
ance within 30 days of their arrival, or that they have sufficient
funds for medical care. The order has
been stayed by a federal judge pending
a challenge, but if enacted, it would
affect about 375,000 legal immigrants
a year, or two-thirds of the total.What else is in store?
Last spring, the administration released
a proposal for a “merit-based” revamp
of the existing immigration system. It
would, if enacted by Congress, award
applicants “eligibility points” based
on criteria such as English fluency,
whether they have existing job offers,
professional skills, education level,
and age, as well as a category called
“patriotic assimilation,” which might
include a test on historical texts like
George Washington’s farewell address.
The plan, spearheaded by Trump’s son-
in-law Jared Kushner, would rebrand
green cards as “Build America” visas.
Doug Rand, an Obama immigration
adviser, called the plan an attempt to
reverse the policies that enabled most
Americans’ ancestors to come to this
country. “Never before in our his-
tory have we closed off the American
dream to strivers who aren’t already
middle class,” he said.Briefing NEWS^11
Undesirable? Immigrants being sworn in as citizens.Shutting the door to legal immigration
AP
Worsening a labor shortage
Critics claim that Trump’s immigration policies
are making an existing labor shortage worse.
In January, before the disruption caused by
the new coronavirus, the Labor Department
released data showing that U.S. employers
were trying to fill 7.5 million vacant positions,
while only 6.5 million people were looking for
jobs. It was the 11th month in a row that open
positions outnumbered applicants, a reversal
of a 20-year trend. Trump’s former chief of
staff Mick Mulvaney conceded the dilemma
in February. “We are desperate, desperate for
more people,” he said. “We created 215,
jobs last month. We are running out of people
to fuel the economic growth.” Complicating the
issue is that much of the need is for low-skilled
labor such as home health care and restau-
rant and hotel work, which college-educated
Americans are disinclined to do. “The U.S.
economy needs low-skilled immigrants much
more than high-skilled immigrants,” said Alexia
Fernandez Campbell in Vox.com. “Businesses
are having a much harder time finding construc-
tion workers, restaurant cooks, and hotel house-
keepers than computer engineers and doctors,”
yet those are types of workers that Trump’s pro-
posed “merit-based” system disfavors.The Trump administration is building a virtual wall to keep out potential immigrants who apply legally.