Trump Suggests Increasing Legal Immigration at Expense of U.S. Workers

The sentiment for increasing legal immigration is a break from the president’s commitment to reduce overall immigration levels

President Trump on Tuesday suggested, again, increasing legal immigration levels beyond an already historically high rate that would pit more foreign competition against American workers and further depress U.S. wages.

During a meeting at the White House, Trump said he wanted “more people” coming to the U.S. than the already more than 1.2 million legal immigrants admitted every year to take American jobs that would otherwise go to citizens.

Trump said:

Speaking of jobs, we have to have more people coming into our country because our real number is about 3.6, 3.7. It took a little blip up during the shutdown and went up to 4. And 4 — any country would take a 4. But we’re about 3.7; probably going lower. We need people. So we want to have people come into our country, but we want to have them come in through a merit system, and we want to have them come in legally. And that’s going to be happening. We’re doing very well in that regard.

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