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The White House Pushes Limits On Legal Immigration

One hundred immigrants become American citizens during a naturalization ceremony at Liberty State Park in 2015.
John Moore/Getty Images
One hundred immigrants become American citizens during a naturalization ceremony at Liberty State Park in 2015.

President Donald Trump has endorsed legislation that would cut the number of legal immigrations allowed into the United States by half over the next decade.

As the Washington Post reports:

The new proposal calls for drastic cuts to family-based immigration programs that allow siblings and grown children of U.S. citizens and legal residents to apply for green cards. (Minor children and spouses would still be able to apply.) A point system based on factors such as English ability, education levels and job skills would be created to rank applicants for the 140,000 employment-based green cards distributed annually.

The restriction on education, skills and language ability led to a tense debate in Wednesday afternoon’s press briefing.

— CSPAN (@cspan) August 2, 2017

We take a look at the tough path to passage for this legislation and what the president hopes to gain from this fight.

GUESTS

Jeremy Robbins, Executive director of the New American Economy, a coalition of business leaders and mayors focused on immigration reform.

Eric Schurenberg, President and Editor-in-Chief of Inc. Magazine

For more, visit http://the1a.org.

© 2017 WAMU 88.5 – American University Radio.

Copyright 2017 WAMU 88.5

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