Presidential candidate Donald Trump has pushed to the front of the GOP primary polls, largely on the basis of controversial, anti-immigration rhetoric. However, until recently, Trump has been short on policy specifics. That changed with a recently released position paper that provides more concrete recommendations for how to reform United States immigration law. Of course, these specifics come with their own concerns. While many people are hitting Trump’s policies for a variety of practical, political, or economic reasons, there are also concerns about whether some of his more central points are viable from a legal perspective.

The Key Points

The new policy prescriptions are broken down into a set of three different basic areas: border security and enforcement, citizenship policies, and policies to encourage hiring non-immigrant workers. For border security, Trump is pushing a variety of fairly standard arguments in regards to tightening border security. He has recommended building a wall across the southern U.S. border and tripling the number of agents patrolling the border. His plan also calls for a massive increase in deportation, including coordination with gang task forces and the mandatory deportation of any undocumented immigrant found guilty of a crime.

One of the biggest changes Trump’s policy calls for is the erasure of birthright citizenship. Currently, the United States functions on a birthright citizenship model—people born on domestic soil are United States citizens regardless of the immigration status of their parents. While Trump asserts in the paper that such a change has wide bipartisan support, it would also require a Constitutional amendment, making it an exceedingly difficult aspect to change.

Trump’s plan also includes a variety of policy prescriptions designed to push companies to hire United States workers. In particular, Trump plans on modifying a variety of visa rules to make hiring immigrant workers more expensive or to simply add preferences to hiring United States citizens.

Areas of Controversy

These policies have led to a backlash from people across the political spectrum for a variety of reasons, such as the possible ineffectiveness, humanitarian impact, massive costs, and potential damaging impacts on the United States economy. However, there are two particular areas that also come with legal issues.

First, Trump’s assertion that he will force the Mexican government to pay for the southern border wall has potential legal issues. Trump’s theory is that he can lean on United States trade with Mexico to force Mexico to sponsor the wall. However, Trump’s powers as president would be hobbled by the North American Free Trade Agreement, which limits the trade barriers that the president can raise. Trump has highlighted some possible work-arounds for this in the paper, but it is not clear whether the limited power would be enough to worry the Mexican government.

Trump’s other major issue is with birthright citizenship. Birthright citizenship was introduced following the civil war in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Consequently, removing it would require another Constitutional amendment—an arduous process that requires the success of a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Congress, along with ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Immigration law is a contested area and reform ideas are being proposed and changed constantly. If you have questions about current immigration law or your status, contact a dedicated Chicago immigration lawyer today.

Source:

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform