Article: Some Thoughts on President Trump's Call for Immigration Reform in the Wake of the NYC Terror Attack By Kevin Johnson

[ImmigrationDaily]

Some Thoughts on President Trump's Call for Immigration Reform in the Wake of the NYC Terror Attack

by



Kevin Johnson

During the 2016 presidential campaign and later as President,

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title="Donald Trump"
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Donald Trump


called for building a wall between the United States and Mexico, issued
three travel bans on immigrants from predominantly Muslim nations, ended
the
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title="Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals"
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Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

program for young undocumented immigrants, and embraced aggressive
immigration enforcement. It can be no surprise that,
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after the tragic events in New York City last week involving an
immigrant from Uzbekistan, President Trump wasted no time in blaming
the immigration system

. Unfortunately, he has misstated the facts and made constructive
immigration reform less, not more, likely.

Trump said on Twitter that the driver in the New York attack "came into our
country through what is called the `
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title="Diversity Immigrant Visa"
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Diversity Visa Lottery

Program,' a
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title="Charles Schumer"
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Chuck Schumer

" — a reference to the Senate's Democratic leader. He also tweeted: "We are
fighting hard for Merit Based immigration, no more Democrat Lottery
Systems. We must get MUCH tougher (and smarter)."

In endorsing “merit”-based immigration, Trump was alluding to the


Reform American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act


co-sponsored by Senators

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Tom Cotton


(R-Ark) and

David Perdue

(R-Ga), which would dramatically reduce the number of family visas,
eliminate the diversity visa program, and adopt a point system favoring
educated, skilled, and well-heeled noncitizens who speak English. The Act
would reduce legal immigration by one-half, from roughly one million to
500,000 annually. (Click
href="http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?8579-Article-The-RAISE-Act-Would-Dramatically-Change-U-S-Immigration-Law-By-Kevin-Johnson"
>
here

for critical analysis of the RAISE Act.).

There is room for debate about whether the diversity visa program, which
today favors the immigration from countries that send relatively few
immigrants to the United States, is sound policy and whether a
“merit”-based or some other system would be preferable. At the same time,
there is no evidence that immigrants who come
lawfully to the United States on diversity visas pose a serious security
risk. Consider the facts.

Created by the
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title="Immigration Act of 1990"
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Immigration Act of 1990

, the diversity visa program accounts for a relatively small number of
visas issued annually. The program allocates 50,000 visas a year through a
lottery; this is out of a total of approximately one million immigrants who
come lawfully to the United States each year. There is no evidence that any
more than one in 50,000 diversity visa recipients who came to the United
States the same year as the New York terrorist.

In addition, there are much easier and certain ways for a noncitizen
seeking to do harm to enter the United States. Diversity visas are
allocated by lottery; would-be terrorists therefore cannot be certain of
obtaining a visa when they apply but literally must win the lottery. No
other visas, including tourist, business, and student, are allocated by
lottery. Consequently, issuance of all other visas are more certain and
predictable than diversity visas are.

In laying blame on the events in New York on the nation’s immigration
system, President Trump also suggested that immigrants admitted on
diversity visas were not carefully vetted. But all visa applicants,
including diversity visa applicants, are subject to the standard vetting
and checks by (1) State Department consular officers in obtaining a visa
and (2) U.S. border officers when they enter the country. Any suggestion to
the contrary is just plain misleading. Indeed, in the case of the New York
City driver, the evidence suggests that he was radicalized through watching
extremist videos while living in the United States. No amount of vetting at
the time of his admission to the United States would have made a
difference.

A majority of Americans believe that the current immigration system needs
reform. The United States needs a rational discussion on how to reform the
immigration laws in a way that benefits the country and lives up to our
highest ideals. Pointing fingers and laying blame to try to scare the
nation into reform of the laws in ways that do not address real problems
will not move the nation forward.

KJ

This post originally appeared on Law Professor Blogs © 2014-2017 by Law Professor Blogs, LLC. All rights reserved.

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About The Author

Kevin Johnson is Dean, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law, and Professor of Chicana/o Studies. He joined the UC Davis law faculty in 1989 and was named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 1998. Johnson became Dean in 2008. He has taught a wide array of classes, including immigration law, civil procedure, complex litigation, Latinos and Latinas and the law, and Critical Race Theory. In 1993, he was the recipient of the law school's Distinguished Teaching Award.Dean Johnson has published extensively on immigration law and civil rights. Published in 1999, his book How Did You Get to Be Mexican? A White/Brown Man's Search for Identity was nominated for the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. Dean Johnson’s latest book, Immigration Law and the US-Mexico Border (2011), received the Latino Literacy Now’s International Latino Book Awards – Best Reference Book. Dean Johnson blogs at ImmigrationProf, and is a regular contributor on immigration on SCOTUSblog. A regular participant in national and international conferences, Dean Johnson has also held leadership positions in the Association of American Law Schools and is the recipient of an array of honors and awards. He is quoted regularly by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other national and international news outlets.

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The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of
ILW.COM.

[ImmigrationLawBlogs]

With all due respect to a distinguished academic such as Professor Johnson, one has to ask why he appears to be so reluctant to mention the obvious motives both for trying to abolish the Diversity Visa and pushing to pass the RAISE Act. Both of these strategies are attempts to reduce immigration from non-white areas of the world by eliminating or reducing visa categories which have enabled millions of Latin American, Asian and African immigrants to come to America though family relationships, less skilled employment and the DV program.

Why is there such a taboo among immigration advocates against mentioning this obvious reality? The white nationalists who are driving Trump's immigration agenda are not afraid to discuss their goals. Why should those who believe in racial justice for immigrants be afraid to RAISE this subject? (No pun intended, of course.)


Roger Algase
Attorney at Law