indica Washington Bureau
Taking a tough line on illegal immigration, US President Donald Trump has reiterated there will be serious consequences for entering the country illegally.
Stressing that the current immigration laws have become a “laughing stock” globally, he said people with merit like technology professionals from countries such as India must only enter the US.
Addressing reporters at the White House recently, Trump had called for a merit-based immigration system,
“Really what we want to do is change the immigration laws, because they were a laughing stock all over the world,” he said during an interview with CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’.
“There have to be consequences for coming into our country illegally. And part of the reason, I have to blame myself, the economy is so strong that everybody wants to come into the United States,” he added.
President Trump’s proposal moving to a “merit-based” immigration system might resonate with voters, according to Pulse Opinion Research polling sponsored by right-leaning, restrictionist Numbers USA Education & Research Foundation.
Trump focuses a great deal of his rhetoric on and off the campaign trail on immigration, an issue that largely fueled his rise to the presidency in 2016.
Nearly two years into his presidency, the president’s supporters remain united behind and energized by the president’s immigration platform.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the White House was reconsidering a policy known as “zero tolerance” that caused nearly 3,000 children to be taken from their caregivers and placed in federal custody after they were apprehended crossing the border earlier this year.
A day early at a rally in Kentucky, Trump accused the Democrats of supporting a policy that lets illegal immigrants come in.
“We have the dumbest immigration laws in the world. The world laughs at us, but we’re getting them changed,” he told his cheering supporters.
The new platform of the Democrat Party, he alleged, is radical socialism and it’s open borders.
“Democrats want to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and they want to turn America into a giant sanctuary for criminal aliens and MS-13 thugs,” he said.
“I want people to come into our country on a merit-based system. And I want them to help all of the great companies that are moving back into the United States. They’re moving to Michigan, they’re moving to Ohio, they’re moving to Pennsylvania, they’re moving to North and South Carolina. They’re coming in.
They’re moving to Florida. And, yes, they’re moving into Kentucky,” Trump said.
A CNN poll in September found that only 35 to 36 percent of American’s have a favorable view of Trump’s immigration policies.
Another CNN poll in October conducted by SRSS found that Americans trust Democrats over Republicans to handle immigration, 49 percent to 42 percent.
