Our administration wants to slide in new rules to keep those poor people out of the country.
In a 447-page proposed rule issued on Friday, the administration proposes sharply limiting legal immigration for those that aren’t already wealthy and privileged.
The proposed rule would favor granting permanent legal status to immigrants who make more than 250% of the federal poverty line. For a family of four, that means an income of $62,750 per year.
This exceeds the median household income in the United States.
I will only accept this if it is applied retroactively, meaning Trump’s immigrant grandfather and all of his descendants must leave immediately. It means I’ll also have to move to Norway or Sweden, but that’s a small price to pay.
whheydt says
Hmmm… I could do worse. I’d have to move to Denmark.
Jeanette Norman says
If they screw up immigration badly enough it could benefit immigrants in the long run. We may end up being forced to pay them fairly for their work instead of exploiting the shit out of them, though if so food will become too expensive to waste on the scale we do now.
davidnangle says
So… we can tell all the MAGAs that there WILL be more furriners… but now they’ll all be richer? Perhaps the rich immigrants will need maids and landscapers?
cartomancer says
They could do away with poor people altogether if they redistributed all the wealth equally.
Intransitive says
I guess they haven’t thought about the brain drain – or rather, how that policy would prevent brains from coming in. Educated people might choose to go elsewhere instead of the US because of “financial elitism”. And educated people (e.g. scientists from India) whose incomes in their own countries might be high wouldn’t qualify because it’s not US$62,750.
ionopachys says
But cartomancer, they don’t want to eliminate poverty, they want to segregate it. What’s the point in being rich if you don’t have anyone to lord over?
raven says
If you made that sort of money, then why in the hell would you want to live in the USA anyway?
It’s a big world after all.
raven says
I saw this in the headlines last night.
If you received food stamps or Medicaid, then you can’t apply for a Green Card to work legally.
OK.
So if you can’t get a Green Card,, how are you supposed to get off of food stamps and Medicaid?
This would force immigrants to stay on government assistance and prohibit them from trying to get off of government assistance.
It makes no sense whatsoever.
methuseus says
This would only be fine if married couples could choose which of the two or three countries their ancestors came from. My wife would go back to Germany, which wouldn’t be too horrible, but I would go to Poland, France, or Canada, depending on whether it was my father’s or mother’s family and how far back you go, including which part of the family. It’s not like they can slice me up in three pieces.
microraptor says
methuseus @9: I was just wondering if I was going to have to go to Germany, Ireland, or the UK. Preferably not the latter because I oppose Brexit.
Kristof says
British government has similar ideas for post-brexit UK – threshold for visa set at salary of 30k GBP per year, which is just above median salary in the UK in 2017.
davidc1 says
Does this mean they are going to change the words on the statue of liberty ?Huddled masses and all that stuff .
robertbaden says
That bit about not getting assistance while on a green card will likely hit the spouses and parents of US citizens hardest.