The RAISE Act is exactly what a Congress would pass if it were committed to the idea of helping tens of millions of struggling Americans in stagnant jobs or outside the labor market altogether.
Here is my statement to the nation's news media on why this should be a compassionate mandate for the President and the Congress.
The government jobs report today estimated that 196,000 new ones were created in the U.S. during March. But how many lifetime and temporary work permits were given out at the same time for foreign workers?
The news is filled with reports of employers pressuring the Trump Administration to increase immigration above the million-a-year average. But it is important to remember that the voters -- the ones who actually decide who gets to hold office -- have overwhelmingly preferred cutting immigration in poll after poll over the last two years.
For the moment, I have to say that I was relieved when the President got through his long State of the Union section on immigration.
There had been so much talk about the possibility of a big new announcement and about the efforts of at least a few inside the White House to put together some kind of new comprehensive compromise plan, I was braced for some major backtracking. I breathed a sigh of relief when he moved on to the trade issue without offering an amnesty or asking for larger guest worker programs.
On the eve of his State of the Union address, the president is under great pressure to increase the number of foreign workers instead of continuing to honor his campaign promises that immigration policies should prioritize the needs of Americans who have not benefited by the national economy in recent decades
With 28 pages of photo essays from TIME's correspondents and photographers around the world, the magazine warns readers that the Central American caravans at the U.S. southern border are just the beginning of millions more sure to follow out of the 258 million current international migrants outside their country of birth who are on the move.
In blocking Central American caravans from entering the United States, Pres. Trump appears to be pursuing a popular solution, according to a national survey of Americans who voted in the midterm congressional elections.
The poll taken in the days after the election found most voters (58%) preferring that the caravan be stopped before its members cross the U.S. border from Mexico.
We commissioned a survey of voters in yesterday's midterm elections in "Toss-Up Districts." It found strong opposition to trading a border wall for DACA amnesty. Voters in these tightly contested districts want any DACA amnesty to also include mandatory E-verify and an end to extended family migration.