President Trump is gearing up to unveil a new immigration plan that will reportedly serve as a central part of his re-election campaign message, with a projected twofold purpose: 1. to impose new security measures at the U.S.-Mexico border; and 2. to increase the education and skills requirements for people allowed to migrate to the United States. He is scheduled to reveal some of the details of this proposal during a Rose Garden ceremony this afternoon. Notably, the proposal will significantly minimize the current system of family-based immigration that has been the hallmark of allowing immigrant familial unification.
Immigration Attorney Edward Shulman expressed his concerns that the new proposal contains no provisions for providing legal status to individuals brought to the United States as children, known as Dreamers (i.e. DACA), or other undocumented immigrants. Shulman stated in a series of interviews with several immigration advocacy groups on Wednesday that the new plan, developed by Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller, does nothing to fix a broken immigration system, does nothing to assist the pressing challenges of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the shadows, and does nothing to send a message that we care about our country’s immigrants and that we continue to maintain our hallowed humanitarian values with allowing persecuted individuals to seek asylum in the United States.