President Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a hallmark of his administration. Now he's turning his attention to legal immigration, putting his support behind legislation that would dramatically cut legal immigration levels over the next decade and evaluate visa applications on a points based merit system. This competitive application process will favor applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves and their families, and demonstrate skills that will
contribute to our economy. The bill was introduced by Republican Senators David Purdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas in February, but has gained little traction in the Senate. Both Democrats and Republicans criticized it Yesterday. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said agriculture and tourism are the top two industries in his state and rely on immigrants. You just don't want every Green card holder to be a computer engineer, because the the economy of America is
more than just computer and hot tay. The US Chamber of Commerce is cutting legal immigration by half, as this bill would do in about ten years, would do serious damage to the economy. Joining me are Kevin Appleby, Senior director of International Migration Policy at the Center for Migration Studies, and David Beer, immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute.
Kevin explained the changes to the immigration system that this bill would enact well as was mentioned in the prologue there, it would cut legal immigration or green card levels by at least half, if not more, would would severely impact of family units of family immigration as well as employment um and would undercut, certainly undercut our economy growing going forward. It also would reduce refugee admissions to fifty thousand, leaving tens of thousands over the next several years in danger.
And it also eliminates a program called the Diversity Visa Lottery program which is enacted in and it would allow our immigrant population to be more diverse from countries that otherwise wouldn't have that opportunity, David, do we heard Senator Graham and immigration advocance also who criticized the proposal, saying that slashing legal immigration would hurt industries such as agriculture and harm the economy because it would result in labor
shortages in lower wage jobs that Americans generally don't want. Do you agree with that. Yeah, absolutely, you think it's just completely ignorant to believe that all the jobs in the economy are going to be college educated, college degree holding tight positions. If you get rid of all of the uh maids and get of all the people working in the back of the restaurant, someone's going to have to fill those positions, and you're gonna be really downgrading
America's workforce. You're gonna start forcing Americans out of you know, managerial positions and force them to the back of the restaurant, require them to be the dishwasher. You're going to require them to be the cook instead of the guy who's running the business. And so really, the the motivation behind having a system in which all immigrants are college degree holders is really misplaced once you start thinking about how
it would actually play out in the real economy. Kevin, can I can I quick just just tow two other trends that really make this the wrong direction. Our population is aging, and the number of US citizens will be at retirement age will double untill over eighties seven million by twenties six. And at the same time, our replacement level we're barely at replacement level in terms of fertility rates. So in terms of US citizen population, we're going to see a gap moving forward, and that will leave a
big gap in the workforce as well. And I'll ask this first of you, Kevin, is there any evidence to support the idea that this is going to help the economy. When Stephen Miller, the White House aid was asked this
yesterday his he had no response. Well, I mean, there are a couple of studies that have been produced by those who wrote this legislation, restrictionist groups like uh Fair in Numbers USA who draw that conclusion, but more reputable sources such as the National Academy of Sciences and even the Cato Institute have found it then migrants complement the US workforce and helped produce jobs immigrant workers over time, and don't take jobs away for the vast majority of
US US citizens. So to say that it's really it's it's based on the whole bill is really based on a faulty premise, because that's really not the case. I've been talking with Kevin Appleby, senior director of International Migration Policy at the Center for Migration Studies, and David Beer, immigration policy analysts at the Cato Institute, about the immigration bill that President Trump is supporting. It was introduced originally by two Republican senators in February, and this bill would
award points. It's a merit based system, award points based on education, ability to speak English, high paying job offers, age, record of achievement, and entrepreneurial initiative. David, it sounds so fluid and unstructured, sort of like being graded in school. You never know how the teacher is going to go. How would like the record of achievement be measured? And suppose you have an immigration officer grades on a curve. Well,
it's a really strange system. And um, it really should be first stated that the bill does not increased skilled immigration at all. There are no more visas in this bill, uh for people coming to work in the United States than under current laws. So it's just wrong to characterize this bill as being a prioritization of skilled people. Uh. It just create a new way to select them, and
that way is very strange. So you know, for example, uh, simply being aged six is worth nearly twice as much as being an entrepreneur who invests one point for a million dollars in their US business. Um. So the calculation that they're trying to do here really doesn't accord with what we would consider merit in a purely economic sense of the word. And I was mentioned a Pew Research Center.
It said that in immigrants who arrived in the past five years held a college degree that's much higher than the of non immigrants in the US, and eighteen percent held an advanced degree, also much higher than the US average. So, Kevin, what is the point of this system, this bill? Um, It's it's really unclear. Um. The President mentioned Canada and Australia. Well, we're not Canada last time I checked the map, and
we're certainly not Australia. And he's trying to put their system and impose it on an economy that's one of the largest economy in the world and the most diverse economy in the world, where you can't just have one size sets all. So it's really a head scratcher in a lot of ways. I think, frankly, it's driven by ideology, um, by some in the administration who basically want to limit the number of immigrants that come here and want to limit the type of immigrants that want to come here.
I think that's really what's behind this legislation. Well, yesterday President Trump also said they're not going to come in and immediately go and collect welfare. But under a welfare reform bill signed by Bill Clinton, legal immigrants are already barred from receiving government benefits for five years or longer. David, what happens to For example, the Trump organization has asked for dozens of H two B visas for foreign workers at two of Trump's private clubs in Florida, including Themorrow
Lago Resort. What about those kinds of visas that are they affected by this? No, this really only deals with people who are coming to the country permanently for permanent residencies, So it doesn't affect those guest worker visas that the Trump organization has used in the past, and Trump, to his credit, actually defended his use of those visas UH
during his campaign during a primary debate. In fact, so Uh, he understands that the economy does need immigrants, but perhaps he only understands it on behalf of his individual businesses rather than taking overall of you of the economy and understanding that other businesses would also have needs for more longer term UH positions. Um Kevin, what is going to happen in for example, there was a lot of other there are a lot of other priorities for the president
and Congress. Is this Does this bill have any chance of going forward? Well, any bill that's in Congress has some percentage of chance, but um, and you have to always prepare that a bill like this could move either on a opriations bill or there may be momentum towards some sort of immigration package which includes, for example, the Dream Act. And of course the administration and the sponsors would insist on some of the provisions of this bill. But as you said, there's a full plate in Congress.
There's not a big appetite for immigration reform right now, so and they've got big budget issues, so I think, you know they won't turn to this anytime soon, and then you come to the mid terms. I don't think the likely it is high that this is going to see the light of the day. But you know, you never say never. You always have to be vigilant about these types of things that may move when you don't expect them. And David, what's your take on whether or
not this is going to move forward? Well, I don't see any Democrats signing on to this. So as long as the filibuster remains in effect, Uh, you're not gonna see this bill moving forward in the Senate. And you've had several Republicans already criticize it. Uh, So you know, the idea that it's going to move forward in its current form at ly uh is very small. And also, Kevin, there were business groups and the US Chamber of Commerce in particular, saying it would do serious damage to the economy.
Which groups are there that are supporting this? In about thirty seconds, well, I think the restrictionist groups are supporting it. UM, the Federation of Americans, Immigration Reform Numbers USA. UM, you know the groups that Steve Bannon associates with who basically just want lower levels of immigrants in the country, and and they're looking to create a system that deports a large number of immigrants. That they're they're really the forces
behind it. But I otherwise I don't see other groups come out and have supported this this film all right, Thank you both, including business, Thank you both being here. Kevin Applebe, Senior director of International Migration Policy at the Center from Migration Studies and dated Theer Immigration Policy Analysts at the Cato Institute