Melting Pot USA: 5 Ways Legal Immigration Will Change in 2017
Since Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States in January, there have been profound changes made to who is allowed into America and why. There are many reasons why we should be concerned about legal immigration might change in 2017, which will probably become more limited as a merit-based system of immigration is adopted. There have long been many blocked pathways to legal immigration, and they could become even more obstructed in the months to come.
Introduction of a Merit-based Immigration System
Trump immigration! President Trump has vocally advocated for a merit-based immigration system in which higher-skilled workers will be allowed to immigrate to America as a way of trying to restructure the middle class. This will essentially allocate fewer visas to individuals, and families will struggle to gain entry into the country.
A Reduction in the Number of Legal Entries
US legal immigration! Since a merit-based system will exclude many potential legal immigrants, there will likely be a significantly smaller number of legal entries into the United States. Skilled workers might be dissuaded from entering the United States if their adult family members are unable to immigrate along with them.
New Legislation Could Lead to Racial Profiling
A Texas governor just signed SB4, a law which gives police officers the right to demand civilians show their legal documentation in any detainment situation, including traffic stops. Legislation like this has been enacted before (in Arizona during 2010) with disastrous results. This legislation could lead to an expensive lawsuit, a loss in revenue, and a sharp decline in legal immigrants wanting to live in the state since they could be subjected to racial profiling.
Noncompliant Cities Could Lose Federal Funding
Additionally, cities that are not compliant with immigration laws could potentially lose out on federal funding. Sanctuary cities are now being threatened by the Department of Justice to be compliant with immigration laws lest they wish to lose federal money. Statements issued by the DOJ have targeted cities that are “soft on crime” and have high populations of illegal immigrants, but the DOJ’s statements ignore actual crime rates and exacerbate the conception of racial profiling.
A Move Away From Family Unification
Previous immigration philosophy has focused on family unification. Changes to immigrations legislation will see less family unification among immigrants in 2017. Legal adult immigrants will have much more trouble bringing their adult relatives into the country, so families will likely become more divided. Families might have to look into hiring immigration lawyers to help them with access and maintaining family unity.
Many changes are still forthcoming, but the outlook seems grim for many who wish to gain legal access into the United States. A reduction in the number of legal immigrants will have many social and financial ramifications, some of which are starting to come to fruition.
Family migration and migration based on sponsorship by companies (eb2 eb3 etc) is full of loopholes and in last 20 years has only allowed for migration of people working for low wages (h1b l1b etc) and people with only school level of education (family migration and diversity lottery), leaving out many highly skilled people and innovators like founders of flipkart . America is losing out the best while bringing in those who depend on social security etc.What trump proposes has long been overdue.Time to totally abolish extended family migration and scam of eb2,eb3,eb5 and also reject./return all the applications in pipeline, and replace it with those who are skilled and those who can speak English (at least 8 on IELTS).