Trump puts brakes on Obama immigration plan

A pro-immigration enforcement group supports President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel an Obama-era immigration policy for foreign entrepreneurs. 

President Trump’s latest policy halt comes a week before President Obama’s executive action on immigration would have taken effect.

The immigration policy was designed to grant parole to foreign entrepreneurs to settle in the U.S. and build their companies. A special type of permission, this parole grants legal status, a work permit, and potential for eventual citizenship. 

The Trump administration officially delayed the policy until March 2018 but indicates it will likely be cancelled altogether.

The Department of Homeland Security says immigration agents are already so overwhelmed with processing immigration requests that they cannot spare time to hire and train officers for the entrepreneur program. 

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, argues that special visas of this type are not necessary to get business people to invest in the United States. 

“People make investments based on what they expect to get in return financially,” says Mehlman. “If you expect that making an investment in a business here in the United Sates is going to return profits, you’re likely to do it whether you’re going to get some special visa or not.” 

Mehlman believes we do not have to induce business people with special visas.

Instead, he asserts that a uniform immigration policy is needed to objectively assess everyone’s qualifications. He suggests selection of possible immigrants based on their likelihood for success and their potential for contribution to the United States. 

“This is, after all, a public policy,” explains Mehlman. “It is supposed to serve the public interest.”