What Immigration Restrictions to Expect in 2018

In 2018 you can expect the immigrant restrictions in the US to continue, despite a low unemployment rate in the country. The Trump administration has continued to justify the recent immigration restrictions in the US by claiming that immigrants and temporary visa holders are responsible for taking away the jobs of US workers. It is estimated that the unemployment rate in the US will fall by 3.5% till the end of 2019, marking a 50-year low altogether. The Trump government’s argument falls weak in the premise of these statistics. Hence the actual reason for a slow job creation for US workers is not immigrants or temporary visa holders but the slow job creation itself. The lack of workers is a threat to the nation’s economic growth which is actually leading to slow job creation in the US.

The Trump administration’s policy for immigrants in the coming time is likely to compel more immigrants to stay out of the US as evident from the politicization of terrorist incidents. Donald Trump has always taken up the issue of terrorist incidents in the US to justify the need for restrictive immigration policies. He has repetitively argued to support restrictive immigration policies by politicizing terrorist incidents that take place in the US.

The Trump administration has always criticized and attacked each negative stance taken by an immigrant, but never glorified the immigrant identity for the benefits the EB-5 visa and other programs provide. For instance, when a shooting incident came to surface in Pennsylvania in the month of December, the Trump administration was quick to label it as a terrorist activity by an immigrant who had managed to enter the US with the aid of chain migration. Even before the facts could be finalized, the Department of Homeland Security came out stating that the shooter managed to settle in the US with the help of a family based immigrant visa. Nothing like this happened when an immigrant soldier in New York gave away his life saving four people in a burning building. This immigrant too had come to America via the family based immigrant visa program, but at this time the Department of Homeland Security choose to remain silent on the identity of that savior. From such disparities in the attitude towards immigrants, the hidden political agenda of the administration becomes more transparent.

In the coming months, it is expected that more and more DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients will cease to get protection from deportation. Immigrants who are trying to pursue ‘merit based’ immigration in this scenario should open their eyes to this fact that it is nothing more than a myth that the Trump administration is open to favor ‘merit based’ immigration. There is no evidence that the Trump administration has in anyway favored high-skill immigration while regulating other immigrations. On the contrary, the Trump administration is planning to put up more regulations on high-skilled immigrants or temporary visa holders to limit their chances of working in the US. One of such attempts can be traced in the Trump administration’s plan to revise the definition of specialty occupation for H-1B visa holders. In the past, the administration has put up restrictions for TN visa holders regarding their qualifications. It is also expected that the changes in the H-1B visa could also bring with it a change in the wages of the immigrant employees. The DHS is of the opinion that by doing so, the administration intends to target the best options within immigrants to hire for employment through the H-1B visa program. This implies that the federal government will play a much bigger role in evaluating the caliber of an employee in the best interest of the company more than the company itself that would actually hire the employee.

The DHS also intends to bring about a change in the H-1B lottery in its plans by favoring those with highest salaries. Here, the target would be the international students who will be likely to get disadvantaged with their inability to attain higher salaries being just out of school. The DHS also intends to bring about new regulations on information technology companies in one of its revision attempts.

It is quite clear that the Trump administration is in no mood to spare immigrants with even the highest levels of education and the best of skills. Each of their attempts is designed to restrict their chances to stay in the US. With the expected proposed rule to reform the Optional Training Program (OTP) that works for foreign students, the Trump administration is all set to restrict the work opportunities for foreign students. To add to this the administration is also trying to withdraw facilities that provide immigrants with a chance to extend their H-1B status beyond six years. All these attempts seem to lead to a self deportation of numerous immigrants including tech employees of Indian origin in order to make space for jobs for American nationals.

It is a faulty attempt on the part of the Trump administration to drive out skilled immigrants from the nation as it will only affect the arrangement of human capital in the nation. Hence, more than opening new job opportunities for Americans, this step will push out a larger number of work potential outside the country.

Clearly, the Trump administration has all its plans set to limit opportunities for all immigrants in the country with its efforts to restrict most family immigration. If the administration is successful in doing so it would result in lowering the rate of legal immigration by up to 50 percent! This too will have an adverse affect on the country’s economic growth by hitting the number of business startups in the country that are in most cases pursued by the families of immigrants. Despite the fact illegal cross border migration is at its lowest currently, the Trump administration remains uninfluenced by the facts to bring about any leniency in its immigration policies. Hence, there is no doubt that in the coming year all forms of immigrant restrictions will continue to grow.