Thirteen US states decided to challenge the migration reform announced by the White House. Virginia, Washington, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and Rhode Island filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security. This department has prepared an order that allows you to refuse to issue visas and permanent residence documents (so-called green cards) in the United States to people who, due to their income level, can apply for benefits provided to low-income citizens of the country: use the health insurance system Medicaid, receive food stamps and rent social housing.
The fact that such an order was prepared in the administration of Donald trump, the press service of the ministry reported back in September 2018. The presidential aide to combat illegal migration, Stephen Miller, was named the author of the idea of the document. At the same time, the agency stipulated that the migration reform will be put into effect only after a thorough discussion. The other day, the Trump administration decided that the discussion was over, and on August 14 the order was published in the Federal Register - the state journal, where the by-laws adopted by the government are published.
The Migration Reform Order will enter into force on October 15. Prior to this date, the representative of 13 states, Washington Attorney General Robert Ferguson, intends to achieve the cancellation of the order of the Department of Homeland Security.
“This decision is illegal because it distorts the long-established meaning of what is meant by state aid,” Fergusson wrote in his lawsuit.
The Attorney General of Washington State is concerned that the Trump administration has decided to actually close the entrance to the country and obtain American citizenship for poor people. Ferguson emphasizes that the decree of the Department of Homeland Security “without relying on reasonable arguments puts an end to an approach that has been working for decades,” according to which the United States is open to people of any race, nationality and income level.
“The message from the Trump administration is clear: rich, welcome, poor not,” Fergusson writes.
- Donald Trump
- Reuters
- © Jonathan Ernst
Consistent policy
Political analyst Mikhail Sinelnikov-Orishak in an interview with RT notes that Trump has been talking about the need to tighten migration policy for a long time.
“He has repeatedly stated that the United States should take only those people they need, and not use the random poke method, when virtually anyone can win the green card lottery,” the expert says.
According to Sinelnikov-Orishak, many visitors are becoming a real burden for the country: after all, the quality of migrants arriving in the country in recent years leaves much to be desired. A significant part of them are immigrants from Latin America who do not have high professional qualifications. Often, many migrants upon arrival in the United States become recipients of social assistance.
“This problem existed long before Trump was elected head of state. Each president had his own vision of how to streamline the flows of migrants so that they would not turn over the American ship, no matter how stable it was, ”says Sinelnikov-Orishak.
At the same time, experts emphasize that the solution to the problem proposed by Trump is too radical. It runs counter to many traditional ideas for the United States about what the state’s policy regarding migration, as well as national and racial minorities should be. Therefore, the order of the Ministry of the Interior could not but cause discontent among many Americans, including in local authorities.
"In Washington state, immigrants will always be supported, and the Trump administration can not change this with words or actions," the Washington Governor Jay Insley quoted The Hill as saying.
Election offer
Changing migration laws, Donald Trump acts as president, hoping to be elected for a new term, said Eduard Lozansky, president of the American Institute in Moscow, in an interview with RT.
The expert recalls that the ideology of the Republican Party, which the president shares, is based on a simple thesis: a person is himself a blacksmith of his own happiness. Republican voters are distrustful of the state’s bureaucratic machine and believe that officials should intervene as little as possible in the lives of ordinary people, who should provide for themselves, and not rely on outside help. Therefore, a proposal to lower taxes is popular among the republican electorate, but the idea of expanding the number of recipients of a particular state support is unpopular, Lozansky says.
- Unskilled professionals, such as taxi drivers, can say goodbye from October 2019 with the hopes of getting an American visa
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- © Spencer Platt
“This part of American society was key to Trump’s victory in 2016, and, of course, he counts on it again, besides trying to expand it with all his might. The new initiative of the President of the United States will find support not only among Republicans, but even among the unemployed, who blame their poverty on competitors from among new migrants, ”the expert said.
At the same time, he draws special attention to the fact that the migration reform proposed by the US administration, contrary to the claims of Trump's opponents, has no racist or xenophobic connotation. According to Lozansky, the majority of African Americans support the migration policy of the president, according to opinion polls.
Most of the states where democrats are in power were against the decree of the Ministry of Homeland Security, the expert said.
“The fact is that the migrants in question, having received the suffrage, will vote against the Republicans. So for the Democratic Party, this lawsuit is a purely political action, ”Lozansky believes.
According to Sinelnikov-Orishak, the situation is somewhat more complicated.
“As soon as the holders of the green card receive citizenship, they begin to look at the others as“ come in large numbers ”, they feel like full-fledged Americans. The sympathies of such people are likely to be on the side of Trump, ”he suggests.
Experts nevertheless agree that until the presidential election of November 2020, the president will not be able to realize all his ideas regarding the reform of migration legislation. They also suggest that Democrats only at the level of individual states will be able to interfere with the practical implementation of the order of the Ministry of the Interior. To cancel it in the courts, at least until the November elections of 2020, will not work - there will not be enough time.
“Courts in the US are a very long and troublesome business, given all the appeals and the fact that five out of nine Supreme Court judges are supporters of the Republican Party. It is unlikely that the entire process for considering claims from 13 states will fit into the time period that remains until the November 2020 elections, ”concludes Sinelnikov-Orishak.