As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump’s immigration plan is here. It consists of ten points.
I think that point #1, “We will build a wall along the southern border”, is just a campaign promise and won’t have much effect on immigration, legal or illegal, one way or another.
I think that point #6, “We are going to suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur”, is, sadly, unworkable. In this day of dual (or more) citizenship and other countries (notably Canada) accepting refugees from the Middle East with only the most cursory of screening, the only way to put teeth into it would be to stop issuing visas at all. Obviously, that’s not going to happen.
I think that points 8-10 are long overdue but I’ll believe them when I see them.
Basically, I don’t think any of it means much. Mr. Trump’s continues to view everything as a negotiation and he’s trying to negotiate the terms of his being elected to the presidency. What he will do after being elected is unpredictable.
8 and 9 are OK. Not sure how #10 would work. For example, I hired a Chinese woman as one of our sub specialists. One of the best people I have hired in years. Would I have been forced to hire a lesser candidate under this plan?
Steve
Trump is kind-of an outsider, but like a lot in the GoP he has this belief that government can be made to work if only it was guided by the the hand of an experienced business executive. Unfortunately for this view, government is only superficially like a corporation and any major change has to be enacted in legislation, not dictated from the throne of the American “CEO.”
You look at President Obama. It’s long been his goal to close Guantanamo. But the laws in place do not allow that. Executive action alone cannot do it. We’ve been trying #7 for a couple of decades. If Trump wants to be taken seriously by anyone with a 1/2 a brain on this subject, he needs to explain how his declarative statements can be made real.