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| Chris Chmielenski |
This Issue: Pres. Trump's first 100 days make improvements to immigration enforcement and begin laying the groundwork for worker visa reforms
Tomorrow
marks Pres. Donald Trump's 100th day in office, and immigration has
been a key component of his 100-day agenda. Thus far, Trump has solely
relied on his executive powers to stem the tide of illegal border
crossings and beef up interior enforcement. And while he's taken some
good first steps in addressing legal immigration, he's yet to take
strong action on protecting American workers from the steady flow of
cheap foreign labor that drives down wages and increases job competition
for workers.
THE HIGH POINTS
Past
presidents and candidates have talked tough on immigration, but none
have followed through on that tough talk. In fact, a clip from Bill
Clinton's 1996 State of the Union Address is one of the most watched
videos we've ever posted on our Facebook page (94 million views). But
neither Clinton, George W. Bush, nor Barack Obama were ever committed to
ending illegal immigration.
Candidate
Trump used some of the toughest pro-enforcement language ever during
his White House run, and we've already seen its impact. Border
Apprehensions -- the measure used to determine overall illegal border
crossings -- are at a 17-year low, and the administration has
significantly stepped up interior enforcement efforts across the
country.
In
just his first week after being sworn in, Pres. Trump signed two
Executive Orders aimed at securing the border and strengthening interior
enforcement. Those Executive Orders called for:
- Increases in Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents,
- Increase in immigration judges,
- Withholding visas from countries that refuse to repatriate deported aliens,
- An end to catch-and-release,
- The construction of more detention facilities for detained illegal aliens along the border,
- Granting Border Patrol access to federal lands,
- Ending Pres. Obama's Priority Enforcement Program (PEP),
- Reinstating Secure Communities and encouraging increased participation from local police in immigration enforcement, and
- Creation of an office for victims of illegal-alien crimes.
Trump
needs money from Congress to accomplish a few of the above points, but
his Administration has already moved forward on many of the points using
existing funds.
LAYING THE GROUND WORK
Pres.
Trump will need help from Congress on several more of his immigration
priorities, but he's at least started the discussion on a few of them.
Most notably, his FY2018 budget request to Congress asked for funding to
make E-Verify mandatory for all employers. Congress will need to pass a
mandatory E-Verify law to make that request a reality, but budget
requests typically reveal the White House's policy priorities for the
next fiscal year.
NumbersUSA
believes requiring all employers to use E-Verify to end the jobs magnet
is the single, strongest step that can be taken in ending illegal
immigration and protecting American workers. But over the years, we have
also advocated for full implementation of the Secure Fence Act of 2006
that requires double-layered, reinforced fencing along 700-miles of the
U.S.-Mexico border. Trump's campaign mantra was to 'build the wall', and
while the details of 'the wall' remain a bit fuzzy, he's continued to
push for some sort of barrier construction along the border.
The
Administration is also off to a good start at ending sanctuary
policies. Both Pres. Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have
called for withholding federal funds from jurisdictions that refuse to
cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. This week, a
federal judge in San Francisco ruled that withholding all federal funds
from a sanctuary jurisdiction was unconstitutional, but ruled that it
may be okay for the administration to withhold federal grants that
require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal law enforcement.
That's exactly what the Trump Administration aims to do.
There
hasn't been much action on legal immigration, but the Trump
Administration did step up its efforts in recent weeks on the H-1B
issue. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have put tech
employers on notice that any misuse of H-1B visas will be investigated,
and Trump signed an executive order last week, calling for a review of
the H-1B application process. Current federal regulations require that
H-1B applications be awarded through a lottery process, but Trump has
called for a new process that would award visas to the most skilled or
highest paid applicants.
Pres.
Trump has done little, yet, to address permanent, legal immigration,
but he did include a strong statement in his Joint Address to Congress
in February that called for reforming the current legal immigration
system to a merit-based system that serves the national interest. He's
also met with Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.) to
discuss their RAISE Act, which would end Chain Migration and the Visa
Lottery and reduce overall immigration by up to 50%.
AREAS NEEDING ATTENTION
The
Trump Administration has continued Obama's unconstitutional executive
amnesty, DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump
said he would end the program on Day 1 of his presidency, but one of
his January Executive Orders, calling for a review of all of the
Obama-era immigration orders, specifically excluded a review of DACA.
While the renewals and decisions over what to do with the current DACA
population may be more difficult, his Administration's refusal to stop
issuing NEW work permits flies in the face of his clearly stated
campaign promise on that issue.
Trump
has also allowed the Optional Training Program (OPT) to continue. OPT
allows foreign students who graduate from a U.S. college or university
with a STEM degree to stay and work in the U.S. for up to two years. The
program places recent American STEM students in direct competition with
foreign students for jobs immediately after graduation. OPT was started
by George W. Bush, expanded by Barack Obama, and has never been
authorized by Congress. It would be easy for the Administration to
eliminate the program.
Perhaps
the most important immigration lesson of the first 100 days of the
Trump Administration is that simply sending a strong message of
enforcement is enough to begin to dramatically reduce illegal entries.
That alone has been a tremendous success. Yes, there are some
unfulfilled immigration-campaign promises and some areas that need more
attention, but it's only been 100 days. There's clear evidence that
immigration enforcement is improving, and there are hopeful signs that
legal immigration reductions could be on the horizon.
Another nail in the coffin for the 'Jobs Americans Won't Do' myth
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| Jeremy Beck |
More evidence that the guest-worker solution has become part of the
domestic hiring problem: Businesses tell Politico that the threat of
audits might lead them to recruit American workers.
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