The RAISE Act and the Reality of “Merit”-Based Immigration
If you’ve been paying attention to the debate around immigration reform, you’ve probably come across the phrase: “merit-based immigration.” It’s a center-piece of Senator Tom Cotton’s proposed RAISE act, and President Trump called for more of it in a speech to Congress. But what exactly is merit-based immigration? This post includes a radio interview on Innovation Hub about my thinking on the RAISE act and “merit”-based immigration.
Three Takeaways
- If America moved towards a more merit-based immigration system, it would mean focusing less on family connections and more on things like English-language skills, having an advanced degree, and having highly-prized job skills. Which would be similar, in some ways, to the Canadian system.
- Johnson thinks that part of the reason merit-based immigration is being proposed is that its proponents believe that current immigration levels are too high. Johnson also says that proponents of the RAISE Act, like Trump and Cotton, want to change the demographics of immigrants coming to America (to, in part, include fewer Chinese and Mexicans).
- Johnson concludes that merit-based immigration reform could actually backfire: “I think if you limit overall migration, while focusing on people with PhDs, for example, what you’ll do is you’ll fuel future flows of undocumented immigrants.”
KJ
Posted in: