Press Release - Ending the Economic Harm Caused by Our Immigration System

LOW-SKILLED LABOR: The United States has seen an inflow of low-skilled labor through both our legal immigration system and illegal aliens entering our country through its porous borders.

• Our immigration system's prioritization of family relations over merit, education level, or skill has allowed a wave of low-skilled labor into our country.
  • More than two-thirds of the legal immigrant admissions into the United States each year are admitted based on family relations rather than merit or skill.
• The United States grants up to 50,000 visas each year through the visa lottery program, which has only a few educational and skill requirements.
• Lapses in our border security contribute to the inflow of low-skilled labor into the United States.
  • Illegal aliens in the United States often have low educational attainment levels and are employed in low-skill jobs.
• As of 2015, a majority of all immigrants in the United States over the age of 25, here legally or illegally, had a high school education or less.
  • 29 percent of U.S. immigrants over the age of 25 had received less than a high school education.
• For years, low-skilled immigration into the U.S. has put downward pressure on wages at the expense of vulnerable American workers.
  • Real hourly wages for Americans with a high school education or less are lower than in 1979.

A STRAIN ON PUBLIC RESOURCES: The influx of low-skilled labor into the U.S. has put a strain on public resources and burdened American taxpayers.

• The rate of low-skilled immigration into the United States serves as a driver of the high usage of welfare programs among immigrant-headed households.
  • A majority, 51 percent, of immigrant-headed households uses at least one welfare program.
• The relatively high use of welfare programs by immigrant-headed households puts a strain on programs designed to help the most vulnerable Americans.

IMMIGRATION REFORM TO BENEFIT THE AMERICAN ECONOMY: President Trump has proposed an immigration framework that would stem the tide of low-skilled immigration into our country, benefiting American workers and the economy.

• President Trump's immigration framework lays out the steps we must take to finally secure our borders.
• The President's framework would curb the flow of low-skilled workers into the U.S. by ending extended-family chain migration, while still protecting the nuclear family.
• President Trump's framework would end the visa lottery program and reallocate some of the visas to help reduce backlog of high-skilled, employment-based immigrant cases.