Source: Point system in immigration bill would favor family ties over skills

The bill would also give a preference to people from selected less-developed countries — including Egypt, Chad and Ethiopia — in exchange for killing the controversial “Diversity Lottery” visa, said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, an anti-immigration group.Jenks received a 30-page segment of the bill from a source. She declined to share her text with The Daily Caller, saying the release might reveal her source.She said she’s confident the segment is valid, partly because it is a legal document prepared by the Senate Office of Legislative Counsel. Also, she said, the details fill in the blanks of a recent New York Times article on an important visa program, dubbed the “merit-based immigrant visa,” she told TheDC.The points will be used to determine which short-term immigrants will be given a coveted green card under the new “merit-based immigrant visa,” Jenks said.But it only provides 50 points for a possession of a doctorate, 35 points for a masters’ degree and 20 points for a bachelor’s degree, said Jenks, whose group wants to reduce the annual immigration of 650,000 temporary white-collar and blue-collar guest workers, and the annual inflow of 450,000 working-age relatives of new citizens.However, the point system described in the bill is written on water, Jenks said.It can be gradually changed by the Secretary of Homeland Security without any approval from the Congress, according to the leaked text, Jenks said. The secretary could change the number to increase the importance of family ties, or the increase the value of technological skills, depending on the secretary’s priorities, she said.“The sectary of homeland security may create additional categories and allocate points under such additional categories,and modify the points values,” Jenks read from the segment.“This is Congress giving away the power to reshape America to the executive branch, with virtually no limit,” she said.http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/15/source-point-system-in-immigration-bill-would-favor-family-ties-over-skills/By Neil Munro in The Daily Caller