What Is 'Merit-Based Immigration? Trump's New Immigration Policy For US

President Donald Trump has regurgitated his highly controversial “merit-based” immigration plan, which proponents say is a common sense solution to the country’s festering immigration problem but which critics claim is an outright affirmation of racism.

On Thursday, Trump announced his broad plan to reform legal immigration, and called for the adoption of a merit-based immigration system that gives a huge advantage to young, educated immigrants instead of those with family ties to the United States.

It calls for replacing the longstanding family-based immigration rules with a points system favoring highly-skilled, financially self-sufficient immigrants who learn English and pass a civics exam.

Trump claims the system, which is being pushed by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and dozens of conservative groups, will attract "the best and brightest all around the world" to come to the U.S. He said this system is a "major update" to the current U.S. immigration system.

Trump’s new system, however, doesn’t confer any legal status for young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, a group known as Dreamers, leaving this thorny issue unresolved.

Under Trump’s plan, the share of legal immigrants permitted entry based on job skills will increase from 12 percent to 57 percent. Family bonds as a justification for legal entry will drop from 66 percent to 33 percent. Asylum and diversity admissions will fall from 22 percent to 10 percent.

The plan will eliminate the diversity lottery system that admits about 55,000 people a year from underrepresented countries, and streamline the asylum system. Family unification will prioritize spousal and parental relationships, a Trump priority.

The proposal calls for three high-skilled immigrant categories, recognizing extraordinary talent, professional and specialized vocations, and exceptional students. Applicants in each category will get points if they achieve certain benchmarks, such as passing U.S. civics and English proficiency tests.

The points system referred to by Trump has similarities to the one proposed in the RAISE (Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment) Act introduced in the Senate in 2017. Co-sponsored by Republican senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, the bill wants to reduce levels of legal immigration to the United States by 50 percent by halving the number of green cards issued.

The bill will also impose a cap of 50,000 refugee admissions a year and will end the visa diversity lottery. Trump promoted a revised version of the bill in August 2017. RAISE has been consistently opposed by Democrats, immigrant rights groups, and some Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

The RAISE points system will determine eligibility for an immigration application. According to Sec. 220 of the bill, an immigrant who accrues 30 points under an allocation scheme will be eligible to submit an application.

Among the criteria are age (applicants between 26 and 30 years of age get the maximum 10 points); formal education (applicants with Foreign Professional Degree or Doctoral STEM get 10 points); English language proficiency (those graduating in the 10th decile get 12 points); extraordinary achievement (Nobel Laureate or comparable recognition gets 25 points) and an annual salary offering at least 300% of the median household income in the state of employment carries 13 points.