White House Announces Major Overhaul to U.S. Immigration System

[jimnyc]

White House Announces Major Overhaul to U.S. Immigration System

Speaking from the Roosevelt Room at the White House Wednesday morning, President Trump expressed support for the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act, RAISE, in an effort to shift America's immigration system away from low-skilled labor to one based on merit and skills. If passed, the legislation would represent the largest overhaul of the U.S. immigration system since the 1960s.

"Struggling American families deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first," the President said. "The RAISE Act ends chain migration and replaces our low-skilled system with a new points-based system."

"The green card reforms in the RAISE Act will give American workers a pay raise by reducing unskilled immigration," he continued.

The President, standing with Republican Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, argued the influx of low-skilled immigrants has greatly disadvantaged working class Americans by depressing wages and eliminating jobs.

"We're not committed to working class Americans and we need to change that," Senator Tom Cotton, a co-author of the legislation, said. "We bring over a million immigrants into this country a year. That's like adding the population of Montana."

"Our current system is over a half-century old. It is an obsolete disaster," he continued.

Rest here - https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2017/08/02/white-house-and-congress-aim-to-shift-us-immigration-system-to-skill-based-entry-n2363490

[gabosaurus]

"Struggling American families deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first," the President said. "The RAISE Act ends chain migration and replaces our low-skilled system with a new points-based system."

"The green card reforms in the RAISE Act will give American workers a pay raise by reducing unskilled immigration," he continued.

The President, standing with Republican Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, argued the influx of low-skilled immigrants has greatly disadvantaged working class Americans by depressing wages and eliminating jobs.

If Trump's team had done their research, they would see that this is not true. Most immigrants do jobs that unskilled laborers won't do. All you need to do is look over the jobs that immigrants have. Go talk to any farmer. Or go to a slaughterhouse or construction site.
There are a lot of companies that need unskilled manual laborers willing to work long hours for $8-10 per hour. To most legal residents, that is not a decent wage. To immigrants, it is way about the $2 per hour they would make south of the border.

[jimnyc]

If Trump's team had done their research, they would see that this is not true. Most immigrants do jobs that unskilled laborers won't do. All you need to do is look over the jobs that immigrants have. Go talk to any farmer. Or go to a slaughterhouse or construction site.
There are a lot of companies that need unskilled manual laborers willing to work long hours for $8-10 per hour. To most legal residents, that is not a decent wage. To immigrants, it is way about the $2 per hour they would make south of the border.

Because so many are illegals. They work like crazy, send a ton of the money home, live like 10 to an apartment... Don't pay taxes, many of the employers are gaining even more so than them.

If illegals were gone, or forced into the system and had taxes taken out and the whole 9 yards, watch how things change.

[Kathianne]

The 'plan' is to restrict legal immigration, to those that most desire the 'American Dream.' It's wrong. Immigrants continue to make America great, which sounds familiar. While often the young adults that come here legally do succeed, whether through starting their own businesses or working their way up, there's no doubt that their children rise faster and contribute more than their peers that have been here for generations.

What is being done is using temporary visas to provide low wage workers for restaurants, resorts, etc. The 'legal immigration, via green cards' is now being proposed would lead to a loss of higher paying jobs that would displace Americans.

Immigration reform should be setting realistic numbers via each country that has people that want to come here, after vetting, there should be a lottery or a 'line' one waits in for the cards.

[jimnyc]

‘Cosmopolitan Bias’: Stephen Miller Demolishes CNN’s Jim Acosta with Immigration Facts

President Donald Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Miller ripped into CNN’s Jim Acosta on Wednesday during a White House press briefing, accusing him of having a “cosmopolitan bias” over his attitude to immigration.

Acosta claimed that the plan was not in keeping with the values of the Statue of Liberty, referencing a poem attributed to the statue after its construction.

https://i.imgur.com/dUfzTwp.png

“The Statue of Liberty has always been a beacon of hope to the world for people to send their people to this country, and they’re not always going to speak English Stephen, they’re not always going to be highly skilled,” Acosta said.

Miller responded accordingly:


I appreciate your speech, so let’s talk about this. In 1970, when we let in 300,000 people a year, was that violating or not violating the state of liberty law of the land?
In 1990s, when we let in half a million people a year, was that violating or not violating the law of the land? Tell me what years meet Jim Acosta’s definition of the Statue of Liberty per law of the land. You’re saying a million a year is the Statue of Liberty number — 900,000 violates, 800,000 violates it.

He went on to point out the historical inaccuracy of Acosta’s claims:


Your statements are also shockingly ahistorical in another respect too, which is, if you look at the history of immigration, it has actually ebbed and flowed, we’ve had very large waves, periods of less immigration and more immigration.

Rest here - http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/08/02/cosmopolitan-bias-stephen-miller-rips-cnns-jim-acosta-about-facts-on-immigration/

[Kathianne]

Acosta is an ass.

[gabosaurus]

Because so many are illegals. They work like crazy, send a ton of the money home, live like 10 to an apartment... Don't pay taxes, many of the employers are gaining even more so than them.

If illegals were gone, or forced into the system and had taxes taken out and the whole 9 yards, watch how things change.

You have been reading too many right-wing blogs.
Some illegals send money home. Most actually do not. Their families are here in the U.S.
Most do not live "10 to an apartment." They often rent small homes.
If they don't pay taxes, that is the fault of the employer. Who Trump is not coming down on, strangely enough.
As I have always said, as long as there are employers will to hire illegals, they will fill them. It's a matter of whether you want to work for $2 an hour or $8-10 per hour.

[NightTrain]

If Trump's team had done their research, they would see that this is not true. Most immigrants do jobs that unskilled laborers won't do. All you need to do is look over the jobs that immigrants have. Go talk to any farmer. Or go to a slaughterhouse or construction site.
There are a lot of companies that need unskilled manual laborers willing to work long hours for $8-10 per hour. To most legal residents, that is not a decent wage. To immigrants, it is way about the $2 per hour they would make south of the border.


You mean Illegal Aliens.

And that's total bullshit. Once the unscrupulous employers are no longer willing to break numerous Federal and State laws by employing the illegals, they'll be forced to pay a decent wage - legally - to Americans and legal immigrants. The economy is boosted, everyone pays their fair share of taxes and unemployment goes down.

Ignoring our laws is not an option. You can't pick and choose.

[jimnyc]

You have been reading too many right-wing blogs.
Some illegals send money home. Most actually do not.
Their families are here in the U.S.
Most do not live "10 to an apartment." They often rent small homes.
If they don't pay taxes, that is the fault of the employer.
Who Trump is not coming down on, strangely enough.
As I have always said, as long as there are employers will to hire illegals, they will fill them. It's a matter of whether you want to work for $2 an hour or $8-10 per hour.

Ok, so I've read too many blogs. You have all this knowledge. Now PLEASE give me sources to backup those things.

1- that most illegals do not send money back home.
2- that illegals families are mostly with families in the US
3- that they rent small homes
4- WTF? Not paying taxes is the employers fault? If they were LEGAL and got a LEGAL job, they would be paying taxes. Both guilty.

You always pop in about how you know this or that, but never provide sources or anything to back your stuff up. If you expect me to believe that what you write is more factual than these 'right wing blogs', then you need to provide sources.

[gabosaurus]

Ok, so I've read too many blogs. You have all this knowledge. Now PLEASE give me sources to backup those things.

1- that most illegals do not send money back home.
2- that illegals families are mostly with families in the US
3- that they rent small homes
4- WTF? Not paying taxes is the employers fault? If they were LEGAL and got a LEGAL job, they would be paying taxes. Both guilty.

You always pop in about how you know this or that, but never provide sources or anything to back your stuff up. If you expect me to believe that what you write is more factual than these 'right wing blogs', then you need to provide sources.

Why do I need sources? I live here. I work with these families. I interact with them. My sister lives among them.
How is not paying taxes the fault of the employee? If you work for someone and they pay you in cash, are you going to say "hey, you forgot to pay taxes on this!" Cash transactions greatly benefit the employer. And yes, there are many LEGAL businesses that do not take taxes out of your check. Like, anyone who is an independent contractor. They are responsible for paying taxes on their income.
You should visit the Bay Area. There are a ton of people that are here from India and Southeast Asia who are here illegally and work in small businesses operated by their countrymen. It's all cash and no one pays taxes. But they rarely draw notice because Immigration is out looking for Latinos.

[aboutime]

If Trump's team had done their research, they would see that this is not true. Most immigrants do jobs that unskilled laborers won't do. All you need to do is look over the jobs that immigrants have. Go talk to any farmer. Or go to a slaughterhouse or construction site.
There are a lot of companies that need unskilled manual laborers willing to work long hours for $8-10 per hour. To most legal residents, that is not a decent wage. To immigrants, it is way about the $2 per hour they would make south of the border.


Obvious...BOTTOM LINE from gabby on this one. She easily condones ILLEGALS coming, and staying in the country. And gabby has no problem PAYING for all of them to continue to BREAK THE LAW, because it's how Liberals Think.

[NightTrain]

Truth.

http://www.debatepolicy.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10748&stc=1

[aboutime]

<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D8I9pWocr68/UQDhwULY52I/AAAAAAAABGU/z_xvDO0dR8o/s1600/runaways.jpg">

<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2jo-A0WgAAzIGu.jpg">

<img src="http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/tccc6.png">

<img src="https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d7e60086413a60b76652fafd53306cde-c">

<img src="https://exposingmodernmugwumps.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/byrd.jpg">

And Democrats still Lie to Black Americans while giving away TAX PAYER goodies in trade for DEMOCRAT VOTES...Like they did both times for OBAMA.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Why do I need sources? I live here. I work with these families. I interact with them. My sister lives among them.
How is not paying taxes the fault of the employee? If you work for someone and they pay you in cash, are you going to say "hey, you forgot to pay taxes on this!" Cash transactions greatly benefit the employer. And yes, there are many LEGAL businesses that do not take taxes out of your check. Like, anyone who is an independent contractor. They are responsible for paying taxes on their income.
You should visit the Bay Area. There are a ton of people that are here from India and Southeast Asia who are here illegally and work in small businesses operated by their countrymen. It's all cash and no one pays taxes. But they rarely draw notice because Immigration is out looking for Latinos.




http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/mark-browne/survey-shows-most-billions-mexico-bound-cash-remittances-each-year-are-sent


Survey: Most Mexico-Bound Cash Remittances Sent by Undocumented Workers
By Mark Browne | January 24, 2017 | 10:53 PM EST
(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey/PA Images, File)

Mexico City (CNSNews.com) – Most of the billions of dollars in cash sent to Mexico by Mexicans living in the U.S. is transferred by “undocumented” workers, and the total was expected to top $26 billion in 2016, according to research by the Washington institute Inter-American Dialogue.

Mexico is the fourth largest recipient of all cash transfers – known as remittances – worldwide, according to the Congressional Research Service.

A survey by Inter-American Dialogue of remittances to Mexico found that a majority, 67 percent in 2013, were sent by “undocumented” individuals living in the U.S.

Of all of the remittances sent to 11 countries in Latin America from the U.S. in 2015, Mexico received the largest share by far at 36 percent – four times more than the closest competitor, Guatemala, at 9 percent, the survey found.

“Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), which exceeded US$70 billion dollars in 2015, are playing a key role in the region's economic development,” according to the institute’s 2016 “Remittances scorecard.”

The majority of remittances to Mexico, 88.2 percent, are sent using the services of companies like MoneyGram and Western Union, the institute found.

It said the cash transfer industry has “expanded dramatically,” and now helps migrants in the U.S. pay their bills in Latin America.

But while services have expanded, the cost of sending money to Latin America and the Caribbean has dropped to below 5 percent of the transfer amount.

Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says the cash transfers reveal a “hidden cost of illegal immigration because you have millions of dollars being taken out of local communities.”

“Remittances being sent out of the country represent a substantial economic impact on local communities because that money is not circulating in those communities,” Mehlman told CNSNews.com.

“On top of that, a lot of the people generating this money are working off the books and there are no payroll taxes being taken,” he added.

In remarks published in the Inter-American Dialogue’s “Remittance Industry Observatory” newsletter last November, Manuel Orozco, a member of the institute’s Financial Services Advisor board, said that “at least” $130 billion is transferred out of the U.S. each year by more than 35 million migrants.

Data gathered by the Mexican government and BBVA Research shows that in 2015, nearly one-third (29.6 percent) of all of the remittances sent from the U.S. to Mexico originated in California. Just over 14 percent was sent from Texas, and 5.1 percent from Illinois.

In 2015, remittances sent to Mexico totaled 2.3 percent of the country’s GDP, the data showed.

Forbes has reported that the money sent from the U.S. to Mexico by migrants “replaced oil revenues as Mexico’s number one source of foreign income” in late 2015.

Some 90 percent of all remittances sent worldwide are in cash, rather than by electronic or bank transfer, according to Alix Murphy, director of mobile partnerships at the remittances company WorldRemit, which operates in 47 states of the U.S.

She said the market for money transfer services in the U.S. was “very diversified.”

“We’re talking hundreds of companies that are regulated by the states.”

Individuals using the cash transfer services are required to show identification, but not immigration status, Murphy said.

Foreign-issued IDs, however, can be used, according to a 2016 analysis by the Congressional Research Service.

The Remittance Status Verification Act, introduced by then-Senator David Vitter (R-La.) in 2014 but never passed into law, would have fined senders of international cash transfers seven percent of the transfer amount if they could not show “proof of status under U.S. immigration laws.”

If enacted, such a law could slow the flow of remittances considerably, according to David Landsman, executive director of the National Money Transmitters Association.

In remarks published in the “Remittance Industry Observatory” newsletter last November, Landsman said that “[f]orcing remittance companies to be immigration enforcement agents would make remittance volumes plummet in the best of times.”

“Their transactions would then go through more informal methods, and become completely opaque to law enforcement.”

This tells a different story--and I know many people , in dire straits , here that would love some of those construction jobs the illegals are monopolizing.
They can not get the jobs because illegals do them for less... -Tyr

[Drummond]

You have been reading too many right-wing blogs.
Some illegals send money home. Most actually do not. Their families are here in the U.S.
Most do not live "10 to an apartment." They often rent small homes.
If they don't pay taxes, that is the fault of the employer. Who Trump is not coming down on, strangely enough.
As I have always said, as long as there are employers will to hire illegals, they will fill them. It's a matter of whether you want to work for $2 an hour or $8-10 per hour.

I can't speak with any authority about what happens in the US in this regard. As for the UK ... some immigrants send money home, some do not. Some do their damndest to leech off of our benefits system.

Thanks to all the inroads Leftists have made in my society over generations, their insistence upon political correctness had left far more of a mark. People criticising immigrant sponging are liable to demonisation on 'race' grounds.

Wander up and down any average (especially suburban) high street in any large UK city, taking notes. Then do it again, a couple of years later. In that interim period, you'd find shop after shop, business after business, in the process of changing hands ... to immigrants. In an area of London I know well, the changes in character and produce sold shows that a majority of shops now serve ethnic tastes, rather than more classically indigenous ones. Shops - as the shop names prove - become 'foreign' owned ones, at the expense of those 'native' Brits who'd quite like to have the chance to run such businesses themselves.

My all-time favourite local library, one I have fond memories of from my youth, is now a mosque ...

Immigrants entering legally to take on job opportunities is one thing. The 'terraforming' of whole communities by immigrants who take over businesses and landmarks, squeezing out 'the natives', is entirely another .... I suggest .....

[PostmodernProphet]

there are two different green card programs......one for temporary agricultural workers and one for "skilled" jobs....as far as I can see these changes only apply to the latter.......lib'ruls need to stop pretending this is going to increase the cost of lettuce.........

[gabosaurus]

I stand corrected.
I discussed this matter last night with my cousin's husband, who is an immigration attorney. He said the number and amount of remittances sent home by illegal immigrants has risen dramatically over the last year. From less than half of the population a couple of years ago to perhaps two-thirds.
My cousin believes it is because illegals in the U.S. no longer want to chance leaving the country. In the Obama years and before, many Mexican immigrants would work in the U.S. and then return to Mexico. Since Trump became president, illegals are remaining in the country and are sending more money home. The prevailing estimate is $300-400 per remittance.
In case you think this is merely a Mexican problem, the last study made showed that remittances made up 20 percent of the GNP of El Salvador and Honduras and 25 percent in Haiti.

[jimnyc]

I have no issue with "America first".

--

GOP Sen Cotton: Immigration Bill About Helping Working Class Americans Get a Pay Raise, Helping Grow Our Economy

Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) made a pitch for the legislative effort he and Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) have teamed up on to put limits on current legal immigration policy.

Cotton told host Joe Scarborough their bill was meant to stop the “downward pressure” put on the labor market with the influx of legal immigrants.

This bill is all about helping working class Americans get a pay raise and helping grow our economy. Our legal immigration system right now, our green card system simply doesn’t work for working-class Americans. We admit over 1 million immigrants a year. That’s like adding the population of Montana every single year.

But only one out of 15 of those immigrants come here because of their jobs skills or education or so forth. Our legislation would reorient our immigration system so that we are not competing, not putting downward pressure and forcing working class Americans to compete with unskilled and low skilled immigrants while at the same time attracting the best and most talented immigrants from around the world who are going to come here and apply their entrepreneurial skills or innovative spirit to create new jobs for all Americans, whether their families came over on the Mayflower or whether they just took the oath of citizenship last week.

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/08/03/gop-sen-cotton-immigration-bill-helping-working-class-americans-get-pay-raise-helping-grow-economy/

[Trigg]

If Trump's team had done their research, they would see that this is not true. Most immigrants do jobs that unskilled laborers won't do. All you need to do is look over the jobs that immigrants have. Go talk to any farmer. Or go to a slaughterhouse or construction site.
There are a lot of companies that need unskilled manual laborers willing to work long hours for $8-10 per hour. To most legal residents, that is not a decent wage. To immigrants, it is way about the $2 per hour they would make south of the border.

You say you live in California, yet post wages that NO ONE HAS SEEN IN 20 YEARS. Construction jobs pay extremely well and LEGAL citizens are lining up to work in those positions.

I also don't understand why someone who purports to love illegal immigrants wants to see them used by democrats for cheap labor. The line "they're doing jobs legal citizens won't do" is bull shit and for some reason it's a line that the dems are using to persuade people that illegals are needed. As if using people who don't understand the language or legal employment practices is a good thing.

[aboutime]

<img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.hoaxandchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/illegals.jpg?fit=1000%2C1000">

[gabosaurus]

You say you live in California, yet post wages that NO ONE HAS SEEN IN 20 YEARS. Construction jobs pay extremely well and LEGAL citizens are lining up to work in those positions.

I also don't understand why someone who purports to love illegal immigrants wants to see them used by democrats for cheap labor. The line "they're doing jobs legal citizens won't do" is bull shit and for some reason it's a line that the dems are using to persuade people that illegals are needed. As if using people who don't understand the language or legal employment practices is a good thing.

I don't think you know what is actually going on. SKILLED construction jobs pay very well. Unskilled laborers don't earn the same wages.
If you live in an area where there are not many illegals (I doubt New Rochelle or Wasilla are havens) live and work, I can see how you might think this. If you lived where I grew up or where my sister lives now, you would know otherwise.

[PostmodernProphet]

I don't think you know what is actually going on. SKILLED construction jobs pay very well. Unskilled laborers don't earn the same wages.
If you live in an area where there are not many illegals (I doubt New Rochelle or Wasilla are havens) live and work, I can see how you might think this. If you lived where I grew up or where my sister lives now, you would know otherwise.
I thought unskilled workers made minimum wages until they learned some skills.....that's how it used to work......

[Duster]

If Trump's team had done their research, they would see that this is not true. Most immigrants do jobs that unskilled laborers won't do. All you need to do is look over the jobs that immigrants have. Go talk to any farmer. Or go to a slaughterhouse or construction site.
There are a lot of companies that need unskilled manual laborers willing to work long hours for $8-10 per hour. To most legal residents, that is not a decent wage. To immigrants, it is way about the $2 per hour they would make south of the border.

Nonsense. I worked my way through college doing construction and related work for far less than $8-10 per hour. Illegal aliens are stealing opportunities from American students.

[aboutime]

I don't think you know what is actually going on. SKILLED construction jobs pay very well. Unskilled laborers don't earn the same wages.
If you live in an area where there are not many illegals (I doubt New Rochelle or Wasilla are havens) live and work, I can see how you might think this. If you lived where I grew up or where my sister lives now, you would know otherwise.

gabby. You always manage to avoid stating the actual facts. So, I will show you here:

<img src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c7/0c/75/c70c750ed282b868b0d7047d56c5e0df--we-the-people-patriot.jpg">

<img src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/4a/56/0f/4a560f453ee7dde538f07a3bfea2d1c9--illegal-aliens-amen.jpg">

[PostmodernProphet]

Nonsense. I worked my way through college doing construction and related work for far less than $8-10 per hour. Illegal aliens are stealing opportunities from American students.
/grins......I paid for college working as a welder......$1.81 an hour.......