Trump immigration plan sidesteps immigrants here illegally, draws wide criticism from both sides

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's new immigration proposal began drawing fire from all sides Thursday with Democrats dismissing it as a campaign statement and some conservatives arguing it doesn't go far enough.

Crafted by Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and adviser, the proposal would create a system to prioritize highly skilled immigrants, but it glosses over concerns Trump has raised for years about immigrants who are already in the country illegally as well as a spike in asylum seekers. The president declared a national emergency at the border three months ago.

White House officials described the plan as an effort to rally Republicans heading into the 2020 election. Trump called on Democrats to work with the administration but said he would go it alone if they chose not to.

"We will get it approved immediately after the election, when we take back the House, keep the Senate and, of course, hold the presidency," Trump said at a White House Rose Garden event as administration officials applauded. "One of the reasons we will win is because of our strong, fair and pro America immigration policy."

More: Homeland Security to release some migrants caught along southern border into S. Florida

Trump said the proposal includes a trust fund, paid for by border fees, to finance border security. The plan would change the nation's asylum system, he said, screening out "meritless claims" while expediting others. It was not immediately clear how the administration would decide which is which.

"Under this plan, the border will finally be fully and totally secure," Trump said.

What's not included?

The proposal – which was scant on details – is silent on key issues:

• A solution for “Dreamers,” the roughly 3.8 million immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. Trump terminated a program in 2017 that shielded about 800,000 of them from deportation, but federal courts have left the program intact for now. Democrats said they need a fix for Dreamers to support broader immigration changes. Trump did not mention the program in his remarks Thursday.

• A plan to deal with the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, which Trump has threatened to deport since before taking office. Trump's 2016 campaign focused heavily on illegal immigration, and his centerpiece response was his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. This latest proposal deals almost exclusively with legal immigration.

• A solution for more than 300,000 foreign nationals who live legally in the USA under the Temporary Protected Status program, which allows people to stay while their home countries recover from natural disasters and conflict. The Trump administration was phasing out that program but has been blocked by federal courts.

Tough reaction

Democrats were skeptical of the president's motives and noted White House officials acknowledged the effort is intended to rally Republicans before the 2020 presidential campaign. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., described the notion of creating a "merit" immigration system, a term Trump embraces, as "condescending."

Doomed?: Previous White House immigration plans have failed spectacularly

"Are they saying family is without merit?" Pelosi asked on Capitol Hill. "Are they saying most of the people who have come to the United States in the history of our country are without merit because they don’t have an engineering degree?"

It wasn't just Democrats and left-leaning groups that were slow to warm to the White House outline. The Chamber of Commerce released a lukewarm assessment, saying it appreciated the effort, but "much work remains ahead of us on several issues."

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that advocates for lower levels of legal and illegal immigration, said he is encouraged the administration is working to improve the immigration system, but said he is eager to see the fine print.

"I look forward to details on how the plan moves toward that priority," he said.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of legal and illegal immigration and routinely advises the Trump administration on policy, said Kushner’s team should be praised for finally putting to paper ideas Trump has only talked about at campaign rallies.

But since most observers agree the outline is merely a campaign position, Krikorian said he is disappointed it didn’t call for an overall reduction in legal immigration. The United States accepts about 1 million documented immigrants each year, and Krikorian said the White House missed an opportunity to call for reducing that number by at least 5%.

“They’ve made a conscious decision to embrace mass immigration and not include even a token reduction in the immigration level,” Krikorian said. “That’s a problem precisely because this is not going to be a legislative vehicle.”

Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said he believes Trump is serious about addressing legal immigration.

"If we want to continue this economic boom, we must have an immigration system that responds to the needs of our growing economy, while protecting American workers," Perdue said.

Details unclear

Less clear is how the White House proposal would deal with the asylum system, which is codified in law and international treaties but which the Trump administration claimed is broken. Trump said he wants to expedite legitimate claims but screen out those who claim asylum, enter the country, then do not appear for hearings to review their case.

Record numbers of Central American families flee violence and poverty each month to claim asylum in the USA, overwhelming Border Patrol facilities and prompting Homeland Security officials to plead with Congress to change the rules to make it easier for them to detain or deport unsuccessful applicants.

Changes immigration experts said would be necessary to win bipartisan support include nationalizing the E-Verify program that allows U.S. companies to check the immigration status of job applicants. Immigrant advocates called for a comprehensive plan to include humanitarian assistance to migrants arriving in the USA and to the Central American countries they fled.

Trump's proposal would eliminate the "visa lottery," a program created in 1990 that attempts to balance where immigrants come from by granting green cards to about 50,000 people from regions that traditionally have fewer migrants. He has railed against what critics describe as "chain migration," in which immigration authorities prioritize the spouses and unmarried children of immigrants for green cards.

Trump frequently complains that documented immigrants arrive in the U.S. and then bring over large numbers of relatives. According to Department of Homeland Security data, about 1 million family members of documented permanent residents received green cards from 2007 to 2016, out of 11 million people overall who were granted that status in those years. Overall, more than 6 in 10 green cards are granted based on family ties.

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Contributing: Michael Collins and Eliza Collins

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump immigration plan sidesteps immigrants here illegally, draws wide criticism from both sides