There’s a lot on talk on the news about President Trump’s 70-point Immigration Reform Plan. Before blindly accept it, maybe we should “read the plan to see what’s in it”. Finding the original, complete plan proved to be a chore in itself. But I found it and reproduced it below. The original document was ten pages, 2738 words. I shortened it to five pages, 1614 words to make it a quicker, easier read by deleting explanations why we need these reforms and unnecessary descriptive words so often used in government documents. If you don’t want to trust my editing, the original document can be found here:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/10/08/president-trump-sends-letter-to-congress-outlining-immigration-principles-and-policies
(Please excuse all of the space between items. Every time I tried to fix it everything got out of wack so I gave up.)
- The Administration proposes completing construction of a wall along the southern border of the United States.
- Ensure funding for the southern border wall and associated infrastructure.
- Authorize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use processing fees from immigration applications and border crossings to fund border security, physical infrastructure, and law enforcement.
- Amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 “(TVRPA) to treat all Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) the same regardless of their country of origin, so long as they are can be safely returned home.
- Clarify that alien minors accompanied by a parent or guardian or have a legal guardian in the U.S. are not entitled to the presumptions or protections granted to UACs.
- Terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA) by passing legislation stipulating care standards for minors in custody and clarify corresponding provisions of the TVPRA that supersede the FSA.
- Amend the definition of special immigrant, as it pertains to juveniles.
- Repeal the requirement that an asylum officer have initial authority over UAC applications.
- Significantly tighten standards and eliminate loopholes in our asylum system.
- Elevate the threshold standard of proof in credible fear interviews.
- Impose and enforce penalties for the filing of fraudulent asylum applications, and expand the use of expedited removal as appropriate.
- Close loopholes in the law to bar terrorist aliens from entering the country and receiving any immigration benefits.
- Clarify and enhance the legal definition of aggravated felony to ensure that criminal aliens do not receive certain immigration benefits.
- Expand the ability to return asylum seekers to safe third countries.
- Ensure appropriate use of parole authority for aliens with credible fear or asylum claims, to deter meritless claims and ensure the swift removal of those whose claims are denied.
- Prevent aliens granted asylum or refugees status from obtaining lawful permanent resident status if they are convicted of an aggravated felony.
- Require review of the asylee or refugee status of an alien who returns to their home country absent a material change in circumstances or country conditions.
- Ensure Swift Border Returns.
- Seek appropriations to hire an additional 370 immigration judges.
- Establish performance metrics for immigration judges.
- Seek appropriations to hire an additional 1,000 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys, with sufficient support personnel.
- Ensure sufficient resources for detention.
- Expand the grounds of inadmissibility to include gang membership.
- Expand grounds for inadmissibility to include convictions for aggravated felony; identity theft; fraud related to Social Security benefits; domestic violence; child abuse; drunk driving offenses; failure to register as a sex offender and firearm offenses.
- Expand the grounds of inadmissibility to include former spouses and children of individuals engaged in drug trafficking and trafficking in persons, if family members continue to receive benefits from the illicit activity.
- Discourage Illegal Re-entry. Increase penalties for repeat illegal border crossers and those with prior deportations.
- Restrict grants from being issued to any state or local jurisdiction that fails to cooperate with any United States government entity regarding enforcement of federal immigration laws.
- Restrict grants from being issued to any entity that provides services or benefits to aliens not entitled to receive them under existing Federal law; and
- Restrict grants from being issued to any state or local jurisdiction that provides more favorable plea agreements or sentencing for alien criminal defendants for the purpose of immigration consequences of convictions.
- Clarify ICEs detainer authority to States and localities ability to honor that authority. States must detain an individual pursuant to civil immigration law for up to 48 hours so ICE may assume custody.
- Provide indemnification for State and local governments to protect them from civil liability based solely on compliance with immigration detainers and transportation of alien detainees.
- Require State and local jurisdictions to provide all information requested by ICE relating to aliens in their custody and the circumstances surrounding their detention.
- Clarify the definition of a criminal conviction for immigration purposes. This prevents jurisdictions from modifying criminal convictions to protect illegal immigrants.
- Clarify the authority of State and local governments to investigate, arrest, detain, or transfer to Federal custody aliens for purposes of enforcing Federal immigration laws.
- Authorize State and local governments to pass legislation that will support Federal law enforcement efforts.
- Incentivize State and local governments to enter into agreements with the Federal Government regarding immigration enforcement efforts.
- Provide the same extent of immunity to State and local law enforcement agencies performing immigration enforcement duties within the scope of their official role as is provided to Federal law enforcement agencies.
- Discourage visa overstays by classifying such conduct as a misdemeanor.
- Require that all nonimmigrant visas held by an alien be cancelled when any one nonimmigrant visa held by that alien is cancelled, to ensure that if an alien abuses one type of visa, he cannot circumvent the immigration system by then relying on another type of visa to enter the United States.
- Bar all visa overstays from immigration benefits for a certain period of time with no waiver.
- Clarify that the government does not bear any expense for legal counsel for any visa overstay in removal or related proceedings.
- Require DHS to provide all available data relating to deportable aliens to the Department of Justice’s National Crime Information Center to be included in the Immigration Violators File.
- Permit the Department of State to release certain visa records to foreign governments on a case-by-case basis when sharing is in the U.S. national interest.
- Permit the Department of State to review the criminal background of foreign diplomats or government officials contained in the National Crime Information Center database before visa adjudication.
- Seek appropriations to hire an additional 10,000 ICE officers.
- Seek appropriations to hire an additional 300 Federal prosecutors to support Federal immigration prosecution efforts.
- Reforms to help expedite the responsible addition of new ICE personnel.
- Ensure public safety and national security by providing a legislative to retain custody of illegal aliens whose home countries will not accept their repatriation.
- Require the detention of an alien who was not inspected and admitted into the United States, who holds a revoked nonimmigrant visa or is deportable for failing to maintain nonimmigrant status. Or who has been charged in the United States with a crime that resulted in the death or serious bodily injury of another person.
- Require the use of the electronic status-verification system (E-Verify) to ensure the maintenance of a legal workforce in the United States.
- Preempt any State or local law relating to employment of unauthorized aliens.
- Impose strong penalties, including debarment of Federal contractors, for failure to comply with E-Verify.
- Increase penalties for any person or entity engaging in a pattern or practice of violations.
- Require the Social Security Administration to disclose information to DHS to be used in the enforcement of immigration laws.
- Expand the definition of unlawful employment discrimination to include replacement of U.S. citizen workers by nonimmigrant workers or the preferential hiring of such foreign workers over U.S. citizen workers.
- Strengthen laws prohibiting document fraud related to employment or to any other immigration benefit.
- Expand grounds of deportability to explicitly include gang members.
- Expand the grounds of deportability to include those convicted of multiple drunk driving offenses or a single offense involving death or serious injury.
- Expand the grounds of deportability to include those who fail to register as a sex offender.
- Clarify the technical definition of aggravated felony by referring to an offense relating to each of the categories of crimes, rather than specifying the crimes themselves. This will ensure certain kinds of homicide, sex offenses, and trafficking offenses are encompassed within the statutory definition.
- Implement measures that would deny gang members and those associated with criminal gangs from receiving immigration benefits.
- Expand the Department of States authority to use fraud prevention and detection fees for programs and activities to combat all classes of visa fraud within the United States and abroad.
- Ensure funding for the Visa Security Program and facilitate its expansion to all high-risk posts.
- Grant the Department of State authority to apply the Passport Security Surcharge to the costs of protecting U.S. citizens and their interests overseas, and to include those costs when adjusting the surcharge.
- Strengthen laws prohibiting civil and criminal immigration fraud and encourage the use of advanced analytics to proactively detect fraud in immigration benefit applications.
- Establish a merit-based immigration system that protects U.S. workers and taxpayers, and ending chain migration, to promote financial success and assimilation for newcomers.
- End extended-family chain migration by limiting family-based green cards to spouses and minor children and replace it with a merit-based system that prioritizes skills and economic contributions over family connections.
- Establish a new, points-based system for the awarding of Green Cards (lawful permanent residents) based on factors that allow individuals to successfully assimilate and support themselves financially.
- Eliminate the Diversity Visa Lottery.
- Limit the number of refugees to prevent abuse of the generous U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and allow for effective assimilation of admitted refugees into the fabric of our society.