And less than a year into his first term, the president is making good on his pledge to end out-of-control immigration as we have long known it under previous administrations (and especially the Obama administration).
In addition to his promise to build a “big, beautiful wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border — which is progressing, by the way — Trump’s overall immigration policies of better border security, targeting “sanctuary cities” and improved interior enforcement of all immigration statues have resulted in dramatic decreases in illegal border crossings.
In August, the Washington Times reported that under Trump “huge increases” in arrests of “illegal immigrants inside the U.S.” were occurring, along with moving illegal immigration cases through courts more rapidly and halting migrants at the border:
At the border, the U.S. is on pace for the lowest number of apprehensions in four decades. That number is considered a rough yardstick for the overall flow, meaning a drop in the number of people caught signals a drop in the overall flow of illegal border crossings, officials say.
And while there has been a recent surge at the border again, overall Border Patrol, Customs, and ICE officials all say that the numbers are down.
Now, the president is attempting to crack down on another major aspect of immigration — so-called “chain migration,” a policy which allows extended family members to enter the U.S. to join a single legal migrant — even if they don’t have any skills and are destined to wind up collecting welfare benefits.
The White House has released a package on Monday containing a series of slides and graphics that show just how bad — and expensive — chain migration is:
— 70 percent of all U.S. immigration was based entirely on “familial relations”
— In the last 10 years alone, the U.S. has permanently resettled “more immigrants on the basis of familial ties” than the combined populations of Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Cleveland, and San Francisco “combined”
— The number of immigrants allowed into the country under this policy is 9.3 million
— The cost of admitting all of these chain migration immigrants tops $300 billion annually
— Just one in 15 immigrants resettled every year with green cards is admitted to the U.S. on the basis of having a skill. (Related: Trump hails new immigration overhaul: Speak English and bring a SKILL with you.)
The White House notes further that under past policies there is “virtually no end to the ‘chain’ that can be tapped to enter the U.S.,” the Washington Examiner reported.
Also, once in the U.S., the majority of these immigrants become burdens on the U.S. taxpayer — at a time when the country’s national debt is above $20 trillion, more than a year’s worth of gross domestic product (which is now at $18.57 trillion).
“Despite being a modern economy, the United States awards most of its green cards on an antiquated system of family ties, not skill or merit,” told Breitbart News. “This system of Chain Migration—whereby one immigrant can bring in their entire extended families, who can bring in their families and so on—de-skills the labor force, puts downward pressure on wages and increases the deficit.”
“Chain Migration also undermines national security, by failing to establish merit-based criteria for evaluating entrants into the United States—instead, familial relations are all that is required to obtain a green card and, in turn, become a voting U.S. Citizen within a short period of time, with access to Federal welfare and government benefits,” the official continued.
In a speech to the FBI National Academy Graduation Ceremony last week, Trump addressed the problem.
“We’re calling for Congress to end chain migration and to end the visa lottery system, and replace it with a merit-based system of immigration,” he said to applause. “We want a system that puts the needs of American families, taxpayers, and security first.”
Earlier, Trump reversed Obama's so-called "Dreamers" executive order, which deferred enforcement priorities for illegal aliens brought into the country by their parents. The president gave Congress six months to come up with a viable alternative.
J.D. Heyes is editor of The National Sentinel and a senior writer for Natural News and News Target.
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