President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced support for legislation that would overhaul legal immigration in America, aimed at creating a merit-based system based on skills and speaking English.
“As a candidate, I campaigned on creating a merit-based immigration system that protects U.S. workers and taxpayers, and that is why we are here today,” Trump said.
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The president called it “the most significant reform to our immigration system in a half century.”
Trump was joined by the Senate Republicans who first introduced the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy, or the RAISE Act, in February. They have said the legislation aims to cut legal immigration in half from 1 million to 500,000 a year.
The new system is said to favor immigrants who are educated, speak English and have high-paying job offers. Trump, Perdue and Cotton argued on Tuesday that low-skilled and unskilled immigration into the United States has depressed wages.
“The RAISE Act prevents new migrants and new immigrants from collecting welfare,” Trump said.
President Trump highlighted the measure during his “Make America Great Again” speech last week in Youngstown, Ohio.
“Instead of today’s low-skilled system — which is a terrible system where anyone comes in, people who have never worked, people that are criminals, anyone comes in — we want a merit-based system,” he said. “One that protects our workers, protects our taxpayers, and one that protects our economy.”
Fox News Radio host and conservative commentator, Todd Starnes, agrees with the need for legal immigration reform.
“We need an immigration policy that benefits America – not the illegals,” Starnes said. “If you don’t want to learn how to speak English – don’t come to America..”
If you don’t want to learn to speak English – don’t come to America.
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) August 2, 2017
Starnes notes what a lot of Trump supporters also observed happening across America.
“Unfortunately, a troubling number of immigrants do not want to learn English or assimilate into the American way of life. It’s as if they want to create their own country within our country.”
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Caleb Parke is a conservative millennial columnist. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and calebparke.com.