Vox.com has come into possession of what purport to be draft Executive Orders on several immigration issues. Please keep in mind that to a certain extent this is speculative. I have my own level of skepticism about these because no other news outlet has picked the stories up and because the DACA order was featured at the top of Drudge yesterday around 4:15 and it is no longer mentioned and the screen capture of the Drudge front page has been memory-holed. This is Vox.com’s own disclaimer:
On Tuesday, Vox was given six documents that purported to be draft executive orders under consideration by the Trump administration. The source noted that “all of these documents are still going through formal review” in the Executive Office of the President and “have not yet been cleared by [the Department of Justice or the Office of Legal Counsel].”
We were not, at the time, able to verify the authenticity of the documents and did not feel it would be reasonable to publish or report on them.
But on Wednesday afternoon, Trump signed two executive orders on immigration that word-for-word matched the drafts we’d received. Given that our source had early access to two documents that were proven accurate, and that all the orders closely align with Trump’s stated policies on the campaign trail, we are reporting on the remaining four.
Having said that, the contents of the orders a pretty much in line with things Trump has said. If these orders are legit, there is not way of knowing how far along the process these orders are and where they fit on the dominant thinking of the Administration. Given the fact that they were leaked to Vox.com indicates that the leaker is very unhappy with what he or she is seeing and is trying to scuttle these order.
ABOVE ALL KEEP IN MIND THAT VOX.COM IS THE SOURCE. KEEP THAT IN MIND. REALLY.
These are the draft orders and their key provisions. If you want to read the real document, click the link at the end of each section.
“Protecting the Nation From Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals”
Bars all immigrants from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia.
Orders DHS to evaluate how helpful countries are in providing information about visa applicants and bans visas from nations deemed to be insufficiently helpful.
Stops the “visa waiver” program.
Places all refugee requests on hold for 120 days, until new policies can be established, EXCEPT for “religious minorities.”
Requires Secretary of State to establish safe areas for refugees in Syria for refugees (WTF? I mean WTF-ingF? Though I could totally get behind this if State Department employees had to provide the guard force.)
“Protecting American Jobs and Workers by Strengthening the Integrity of Foreign Worker Visa Programs”
Revokes an Obama policy, called Optional Practical Training, which allows recent foreign grads to work for one year after graduation.
Revokes an Obama policy allowing spouses of H1B visa holders to work.
Revokes an Obama policy that allowed illegal aliens to apply for a green card if they married a US citizen
Orders DHS to tighten up scrutiny of H1B and H2B programs and ensure American workers are not hurt.
Requires Department of Labor to regularly report on the number of foreign workers in the United States and the number of US workers hurt by their presence.
“Protecting Taxpayer Resources by Ensuring Our Immigration Laws Promote Accountability and Responsibility”
Forbids immigration of anyone who DHS determines is likely to need any federal benefit.
Makes sponsor of any immigrant financially responsible for them (this, by the way, was federal law as late as 1982).
Stops illegals from drawing social security paid in on a false social security number.
Stops illegals from getting child tax credit.
And now the best for last:
“Ending Unconstitutional Executive Amnesties”
DACA ends. Now.
DACA work permits now in existence remain valid until expiration.
All DACA work permits expire by 2019 and no more will be issued.
People on DACA program will not be granted “advance parole” by ICE which means if they leave the US for any reason they can’t reenter.
I don’t have any huge problem with the first three orders. It has long been established that most of the refugees from the Syrian war are military age males… meaning they are primarily economic refugees if not a Fifth Column. For reasons that remain unfathomable by any logical evaluation, Obama has shunned Middle Eastern Christians in the refugee stream when they are a) highly unlikely, to the point of non-existence, to have terror ties and b) they are very easy to vet because they tend to have become refugees as part of a community. The fact that we are giving these true refugees priority is a good thing.
Likewise, it is ridiculous to allow entry into this nation as a legal immigrant someone who needs federal welfare assistance. That’s just dumb. It is good to see the H1B and H2B programs getting heightened scrutiny because there are numerous cases of American workers, particularly in the IT sector, being displaced by H1B workers. The H1B program is equally unfair to the visa recipient who becomes a virtual indentured laborer, unable to complain of work conditions, negotiate for higher pay, or seek other employment.
I interpret the DACA order as a punt to Congress. Essentially he’s giving Congress two years to fix this problem the way it should be fixed, via legislation, or take the heat for not fixing it. Like so many paving stones on the road to Hell, DACA is well-intentioned wrongness. It is easy to let these DACA people to stay but what you are doing is creating a permanent class on people who are neither citizens nor resident aliens with a path to citizenship. That should strike everyone as immoral.
As the Administration moves forward it will be interesting to see how many of these come to pass. Of it this is Vox.com at its “bridge from Gaza to the West Bank” finest.
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