The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respected Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges…” George Washington
Image: Joseph Keppler
The detail of Trump’s new merit-based immigration plan has been published, and it is a doozey.
Trump has said more than once that he wants to be sure that "those we are admitting to our country share our values and love our people.” And this newest immigration plan , like all law and policy, is an expression of what he thinks those values are or should be. Let’s take a look at those values.
First, it should be noted that in this plan there is no standard for skills – only age, income and education. As Stephen Miller noted, this plan for legal immigration is about those who will have a pathway to citizenship, and clearly the vision is that to be considered for citizenship, you have to be young, rich and educated. Are you a highly skilled tradesman, craftsman, mechanic, or an IT professional with expert certification but no formal college degree? Forget it. Do you want to come to the U.S. to start a small business, like a shop or a restaurant but no formal college degree and not yet wealthy? Forget it. You have no merit in this merit-based system.
And, while the plan states that you need at least 30 points, the implication is clear that those with the most points are chosen to fill the drastically reduced number of Visa’s granted, so if you’re a slacker with just 30 points to your name, chances are you just won’t get in. You’re competing with the big boys who have 35 or 50 or even more points because they are younger or more educated or have a whole lot more money than you. It’s to the back of the line for you until you get your act together.
For age, those under 18 years old and over 50 years old need not apply, as there are zero points offered in this system for those age ranges. Sorry, guys, but if you fall into that age range you are going to have to be a over-educated (max of 13 points) multi-millionaire (up to 12 points for investing 1.8 million in the U.S.) that is fluent in English (12 points for 100% on the test!) to make your 30 points in this system. Points increase until you reach age 35, with someone aged 31 through 35 earning the maximum offered of eight points, and then points decrease from there until you reach the no-credit age of 50. Trump would be rejected in this system based on age and education, but hey, he’s got the billions in income to get him 13 points, the investments in the U.S. to get him an additional 12 points, and if he can get at least a D on the English test he is over the hump!
Education? If your goal is 30 points, your best bet is a foreign masters degree in STEM fields (7 points) and you gain an extra point if the STEM degree is from the U.S. A foreign or American professional degree are the big winners in this point system – 10 points with an extra 3 points added on if you got your degree in the U.S. High school education or bachelor’s degree? Forget it – you’ll never make 30 points unless you max out on all of the other possibilities. Or, win the Nobel Prize.
And, yes, they are going to make you take a standardized English test as part of your application (before you even get here) and you better be good. If you are wondering how the point system translates to the percentile standards and then translates to (the more familiar) grades, here it is:
90th percentile and up = A =12 points
80-89th percentile = B = 10 points
70-79th percentile = C = 6 points
60-69th percentile = D = 6 points
< 60th percentile = F = 0 points
And, by the way, whether that test is culturally fair or not for anyone but an American is open to question. If you score below the 60th percentile, you go to the back of the line.
Got a job offer? Not so fast, buddy. That job offer, baseline, has to be 150% of median household income in the state where you will be employed, and that only gets you 5 points. So, if you get a job offer in the Big Apple, where the median income is $50,711, you need a salary offer of at least 76,066. Want more points? You have to be in a higher income bracket, with eight points if the income is 200% the median income, and 13 points if it's 300% the median. So, the grand prize goes to the job offer that nets you $152, 133. Does this sound like Wall Street, Banking, or Corporate middle-management?
And then there is what I like to call the “Show Me The Money!” standard. No more can you get an EB-5 Visa for a lousy $500,000. Sorry Jared and family – the program is being eliminated. Now you get points toward the golden path to citizenship based on what you actually invest in business in the U.S. and it is not cheap. Applicants get six points if they invest $1.35 million into a "new commercial enterprise" in the US, maintained for three years and with that individual holding management of that business as his or her primary application. The points go up to 12 if the investment is $1.8 million. That “Green Card” just got a whole lot greener, if you know what I mean.
Want to bring your spouse and kids? Well, she better be just as “golden” as you because the same standards will be applied to her separately and if she doesn’t make the points, she’s out. So, you will have to make a choice if you want to enter the Golden Gates of the Heavenly USA. You better be a power couple or you’ll have to consider dumping the loser. And forget about grandparents, siblings, brother-and-sister-in-laws and all of the rest. It’s each (wo)man for him-or-herself, and if Nana and Papa don’t cut the mustard, you can promise to call them every week.
Now, Trump’s plan also provides the “opportunity” to earn points in the bonus round if you are an Olympian (15 points) or a Nobel Prize winner (25 points). But for the purposes of the day-to-day applicant, that is not even a consideration. More than likely these two standards for earning points were a product of input from Trump, reflecting his inimitable style of exaggerated grandiosity. “We only accept the best people! The smartest people! Olympians and Nobel winners are flocking to our shores! And everyone is making so much money! Billions and billions of dollars!”
Trump, in his usual hyperbolic style, announced that this merit-based system of immigration will “reduce poverty, raise wages, and save taxpayers billions and billions of dollars.” Nowhere in this plan do I see how this system will accomplish this goal. Maybe he is thinking of the new, separate, tax plan of his that cuts the taxes on the income and investment levels he is recruiting along with these requirements that to get in this country you have to earn a (much) higher than average salary. Not quite sure what that does for anyone else in this country who is just trying to earn a descent living and give our loved ones a decent life. And reducing poverty? Well, maybe he’s thinking of his
plan to deport all of the poor non-citizens he can, and then the citizens that are left, well, he’s taking away their healthcare so they’ll die off soon enough. Yeah, that’s probably what he was thinking when he said his plan would “reduce poverty, raise wages, and save taxpayers billions and billions of dollars.”
And just as a final point: If Trump’s immigration plan (or any of his plans) will save taxpayers “billions and billions of dollars” isn’t that the same as saying that the government will lose “billions and billions of dollars” in revenue? I would think it would be hard to decrease the deficit or balance the budget if the government is losing “billions and billions of dollars.” And bankrupting the government isn’t a goal one likes to see in a president.
Yes, Trump is going to Make America Great Again; Young, Rich and Highly Educated!!! All others need not apply.
This law takes America from the value of “the land of opportunity” for all, giving equal opportunity to immigrants to come to this country with a chance for citizenship and freedom, and turns it into the “land of opportunists”, allowing into this country only those that can contribute financially to the business sector and to the financial growth of a business in a larger than average way, or “bigly” as Trump would say. It denies the contribution to the life of the immigrant who seeks to better his life, to simply lift himself and his family out of poverty, and bettering the life and opportunities of his family. It denies the contribution of that average immigrant for also making life better in the community in which he resides.
In applying the standards of age, income and education separately to husband and wife, it encourages the value of valuing large amounts of money over commitment to family. In applying these standards to every member of the family and extended family , eschewing the long-held value of immigration based on family reunification and unity, it encourages the value of “each (wo)man for him-or-herself. No longer is the value that immigration is about making a better life for your family, but that of making a better life “bigly” for yourself. Even at the expense of your family.
Perhaps this is an underhanded way of discouraging immigration by forcing individuals to make a choice between wealth and family. But are those who are willing to make this choice of the character and quality that we want to encourage to live in this country and perhaps become citizens? And do we really want to turn America into an exclusive club with high membership fees?
Source: Metaphysical Outlaws in America