Did Trump Save His Presidency? Maybe - IF He Doesn’t INCREASE Legal Immigration

Article publisher: 
VDare
Article date: 
18 February 2019
Article category: 
National News
Medium
Article Body: 

... But we should note that some patriots are arguing the most controversial “poison pill” concessions [in the funding bill Trump signed on February 15, 2019] are not as bad as they appear at first sight—for example on the alleged veto power over wall construction by a handful of border counties. Similarly, some Twitter users have pointed out that the stipulations regarding sponsors of illegal alien minors would not cover people clearly associated with human trafficking and would not effectively hinder Homeland Security’s power to deport whoever deems fit for deportation. And the cap on beds in immigration detention (42,520) is, in fact, the current cap—not a reduction. The bill also gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the ability to appropriate money from other agencies if the number of detainees exceeds the number of beds; and allows ICE to obtain the resources to detain up to 58,000 migrants if necessary. [The Shutdown Deal Includes More Ice Detention Beds. That Doesn't Mean Mattresses, by Jack Herrera, Pacific Standard, February 14, 2019]...

But—apart from the fact that the bill is not an immigration moratorium, which is of course what it should be—it seems premature to blackpill over it.
 
And, above all, Trump did finally declare a national emergency that re-allocates billions to the wall—the dramatic move that he absolutely had to make....
 
So Trump potentially has $8 billion for wall construction, depending on how well his court battles turn out. This is a serious win and more than the $5.7 billion he requested in exchange for the deportation protection of hundreds of thousands of migrants.
 
Rhetorically, the president nearly did everything immigration patriots expected him to do....
 
It would have been ideal if Trump had smarter Republicans negotiating the budget deal and made them cut out the poison pills. But that’s the past. What’s next for Trump on immigration?...
 
 
The good news: it is highly unlikely he will consider a grand Amnesty....
 
The bad news: the President may increase immigration via more guest worker visas....

And U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director L. Francis Cissna told business leaders that the administration might ease regulations for L-1 visas, which allows companies to transfer professionals from a foreign office to America....

Prominent congressional Republicans such as Sen. Mike Lee and Sen. Tom Cotton have sponsored a bill that would scrap per-country caps on employment-based immigration, such as H-1b visas. [Mike Lee, Kamala Harris Join Forces to Lift Immigration Country Caps, by Bridget Johnson, PJ Media, February 7, 2019]....

This proposal is also supported by liberal Big Tech giants who place no value on hiring American workers and desperately want cheap foreign labor....

The saddest part: Tom Cotton, a supposed immigration patriot, is on board....

Similarly, the Trump administration recently implemented new rules that would allow for more H-1b holders with advanced degrees to come to the U.S. to take American jobs. [Trump administration proposes changes to popular H-1B program, by Sara Ashley O’Brien, CNN Business, November 30, 2018]....

Serving corporate interests is still a top priority for Republicans—even for those who are otherwise good on immigration, such as Senator Cotton....