Donald Trump proposes 'merit-based' system for immigration

Agencies
May 17, 2019

Washington, May 17: US President Donald Trump has proposed a sweeping change to the immigration system to make it "merit-based" favouring professionals and well-educated people who will be high earners.

Unveiling his plan at the White House on Thursday, he said the current immigration system discriminates against "genius" and "brilliance" and that he wanted to correct this with a new system he called "Build America Visa" that favours those with demonstrated potential.

The plan is modelled on the immigration systems of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which prioritise admission based on points awarded for various qualifications.

It will preserve the immigration of spouses and children of permanent residents or green card holders, but eliminate preferences for other relatives like siblings and parents.

"We prioritise the immediate family of new Americans - spouses and children", Trump said. "The loved ones you choose to build a life with, we prioritise... They go right to the front of the line".

Trump said he wants to increase the current allocation of 12% of green cards for highly skilled professionals to 57% at the expense of certain categories of relatives and people immigrating from certain countries based on a lottery system. This would reverse the current system of reserving about 60% of green cards for relatives. About 1.13 million people get permanent resident visas or green cards every year.

Making his case for the merit system, he said that companies were moving offices abroad because the current system prevented them from retaining highly skilled and even "totally brilliant people".

The emphasis on merit has the potential to help Indian professionals who have to wait for ten years or more to get a green card -- but only if the national quotas is lifted. Currently each country's quota is about 25,000, regardless of its population size.

It is not clear if that would happen because Trump did not say if the national limits would be removed or modified.

Some members of both houses of Congress, including presidential aspirant Senator Kamala Harris, have introduced legislation 'Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act' to remove the national quota limits for professionals.

Trump was also silent on the H1-B visas that are given temporarily to skilled professionals. His administration has sought to make the qualifying standards more stringent and has raised the rejection rate for the visa making it an area of contention between India and the US. Trump's plan will also give preference to those who have been educated in the US.

Packaged in Trump's plan crafted by his son-in-law Jared Kushner and a controversial adviser, Stephen Miller, are proposals for tough new measures against illegal immigrants and for strengthening border security by building a wall and tightening asylum requirements. These will be opposed by Democrats.

However, the ambitious plan that essentially restates many of his previous proposals is unlikely to get past Congress.

"Trump's proposal has no chance of becoming law in this Congress," said Doug Rand, who worked on immigration policy at the White House during Barack Obama's presidency and is the co-founder of Boundless Immigration, a company provides help with navigating the system.

Trump himself admitted as much, pinning his hopes on his re-election. If it did not pass in his current term it would "be passed after the election, when Republicans take back the House, hold the Senate and keep the presidency", he claimed.

"This is classic election talk and is designed to cater to the President Trump's voter base" said Vivek Tandon, the CEO of EB5 BRICS, an immigration advisory firm. "I don't believe this to be meaningful proposal".

Democratic Party leaders voiced their strong opposition to the Trump plan even before it was formally unveiled.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi decried the use of the word "merit", telling reporters: "It is really a condescending word."

Democratic Party leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, denounced it as "anti-immigration reform".

"It repackages the same partisan, radical, anti-immigrant policies that the administration has pushed for the two years," he said.

Trump hit back at the Democrats accusing them of favouring open borders and lowering wages.

But a leading senator of his own party Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, also expressed doubts about the plans viability to become law.

The Trump plan's biggest weakness in getting Democratic Party support is the failure to grant permanent immigration status to those who came to the US illegally as children and are referred to as "Dreamers" for their pursuit of the American dram.

Obama had granted them temporary protection against deportation, but Trump has tried to revoke it, while saying at the same time that he wants it to be made permanent without making a concrete proposal. Democrats insist that any immigration effort should start with "Dreamers".

The "merit-based" reform of awarding points proposed by Trump would favour younger immigrants, those with higher educational qualifications, English language proficiency, job offers with better wages, and entrepreneurs capable of creating jobs.

The preference for entrepreneurs "is good news for potential investors" according to Lawrence Chang, the president, Maryland Center for Foreign Investment.

David Finkelstein, the CEO of American Immigration Group, said that Trump's proposal for increasing the number of skilled immigrants is in line with the EB5 programme, which provides Green Cards for investors.

He added that it "has attracted high net worth families that are highly educated which is exactly what President Trump is supporting, rather than those that are not educated and require continued financial support from our social system".

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News Network
July 11,2020

Singapore, Jul 11: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has secured a “clear mandate” with his ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) winning 83 of the 93 contested parliamentary seats in the general election held amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Opposition gaining ground by winning a record 10 seats.

The ruling party, in power since independence in 1965, secured 61.24 percent of the total votes cast in the election, down from 69.9 percent in 2015. About 2.6 million Singaporeans voted on Friday.

“We have a clear mandate, but the percentage of the popular vote is not as high as I had hoped for,” 68-year old Lee told a PAP’s post-results press conference on Saturday morning.

The opposition Workers’ Party secured 10 seats and defeated a team in the Group Representation Constituency of Sengkang led by former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Ng Chee Meng who is also the Secretary-General of the power National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

The Prime Minister assured it is “only right” that Workers’ Party’s Indian-origin secretary-general Pritam Singh be “formally designated” as the Leader of the Opposition, and that he will be provided with “appropriate staff support and resources to perform his duties”.

Lee took the results in “these circumstances” as an “endorsement” of the party’s policies and plans as he had called the elections amidst Covid-19 pandemic.

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“We’ll take this forward and work with Singapore to realise those plans and solve the problems which we have,” Channel News Asia quoted the premier as saying.

Lee, who leads the PAP as secretary-general, said, “Singaporeans understand what’s at stake and why we must come together to uphold our national interests.”

He pledged to use this mandate “responsibly” to deal with the Covid-19 situation and economic downturn, to take Singapore “safely through the crisis and beyond”.

“The results reflect the pain and uncertainty that Singaporeans feel in this crisis, the loss of income, the anxiety about jobs, the disruption caused by the circuit breaker and the safe distancing restrictions,” he said.

This was not a “feel-good” election, said Lee, Singapore’s third prime minister who faces the city state’s worst recession with the economy projected to shrink between 7 and 4 per cent.

Lee acknowledged that the result also showed a “clear desire” for a diversity of voices in Parliament.

“Singaporeans want the PAP to form the government, but they, and especially the younger voters, also want to see more opposition presence in parliament,” he noted.

Lee added that he looks forward to the participation and contribution of the Opposition in parliament.

Singh, whose Workers’ Party team retained Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), will have 10 elected MPs now, up from six previously. His fellow member also retained the Hougang single-member constituency seat.

“Whether it works out… and whether it’s seen as a strengthening of Singapore will depend not only on what the PAP does but also on what the Opposition does because the Opposition now has 10 MPs elected from constituencies,” said Lee.

He assured that the ruling party will listen to Singaporeans and do its best to address their concerns, and “try to win” their support, whether or not they voted for the PAP.

When asked by the media if the party had lost the youth vote, he noted that different generations have different life experiences, and the young have significantly different life aspirations and priorities compared to the older generations.

“That’ll have to be reflected in our political process and in the government’s policies because, in the end, the government’s policies must be to achieve the aspirations of every generation of Singaporeans,” Lee said, assuring Singaporeans.

He hoped that the new generations of Singaporeans “look critically, but with an open mind” at what previous generations have done, “examine what’s relevant and what continues to make sense to them in a new environment” and “learn from these experiences hard-won by their parents and grandparents”.

This is so that they do not have to “learn them all over again and pay a high price which has already been paid”.

Lee added that he was, naturally, disappointed at the loss of the newly formed Sengkang GRC, which the Workers’ Party won with 52.13 percent of the valid votes.

“Ng Chee Meng and his team -- Lam Pin Min, Amrin Amin and Raymond Lye -- always knew it was going to be a tough fight,” he said.

“They gave it their all, but Sengkang voters have spoken, and we respect their decision.”

Lee described it as a “major loss to my team” and to the fourth-generation leaders, especially as Ng is the secretary-general of the Labour Movement, the NTUC.

Singh, 43, told a press conference following the results that his team would “continue to endeavour for good outcomes on the ground” and to represent voters “faithfully in parliament”.

“Today’s results are positive, but we have to hit the ground running. We should not get over our head with the results. There’s much work to do. And I can assure you this Workers’ Party team is committed to serve Singapore,” he stressed.

The PAP contested all 93 seats and the Workers’ Party 21 seats. Nine other political parties also contested the elections.

A total of 192 candidates contested for seats through 17 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs).

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Agencies
June 29,2020

Tehran, Jun 29: Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining President Donald Trump and dozens of others it believes carried out the drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, a local prosecutor reportedly said Monday.

While Trump faces no danger of arrest, the charges underscore the heightened tensions between Iran and the United States since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said Trump and more than 30 others whom Iran accuses of involvement in the Jan. 3 strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad face “murder and terrorism charges,” the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.

Alqasimehr did not identify anyone else sought other than Trump, but stressed that Iran would continue to pursue his prosecution even after his presidency ends.

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alqasimehr also was quoted as saying that Iran requested a “red notice” be put out for Trump and the others, which represents the highest level arrest request issued by Interpol. Local authorities end up making the arrests on behalf of the country that request it. The notices cannot force countries to arrest or extradite suspects, but can put government leaders on the spot and limit suspects’ travel.

After receiving a request, Interpol meets by committee and discusses whether or not to share the information with its member states. Interpol has no requirement for making any of the notices public, though some do get published on its website.

It is unlikely Interpol would grant Iran’s request as its guideline for notices forbids it from “undertaking any intervention or activities of a political” nature.

The U.S. killed Soleimani, who oversaw the Revolutionary Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, and others in the January strike near Baghdad International Airport. It came after months of incidents raising tensions between the two countries and ultimately saw Iran retaliate with a ballistic missile strike targeting American troops in Iraq.

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Agencies
February 4,2020

The government suspended all the India-bound air travel from China and has declared all visas 'invalid', on Monday, due to the rapid escalation of cases of novel coronavirus outbreak which originated in Wuhan.

"Embassy and our Consulates have been receiving several queries from Chinese citizens as well as other foreign nationals, who are based out of China or visited China in the last 2 weeks, as to whether they can use their valid single/multiple entry visas to travel to India," tweeted the Embassy of India in Beijing, China.

"It is clarified that existing visas are no longer valid. Intending visitors to India should contact the Indian Embassy in Beijing ([email protected]) or the Consulates in Shanghai ([email protected]) and Guangzhou ([email protected]) to apply afresh for an Indian visa," it said.

Further, regarding the validity of visas, the embassy said, "Indian Visa Application Centres (http://blsindia-china.com) in these cities may also be contacted in this regard. Visa Section of the Embassy/Consulates of India in China can be contacted to ascertain the validity of visa before undertaking any visit to India."

"All those who are already in India (with regular or e-visa) and had traveled from China after January 15 are requested to contact the hotline number of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India (+91-11-23978046 and email: [email protected])," the embassy said.

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