In a shocking turn of event, talk show host Bill Maher defended Trump’s merit-based immigration plan. Who knew he had it in him to understand the importance of granting citizenship to quality people against the current random lottery-based system?
CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers denounced the proposal for being out of line with the U.S. immigration tradition, which she claims has always been about people just coming to the country with no regard for their merit.
“This country is based on people coming over here not based on having a Ph.D. or having high-level skills,” Powers said. “Even when we say ‘merit-based,’ it sort of suggests that someone who doesn’t have a high education doesn’t have merit. I think we need people who are unskilled laborers. We need them just as much as people who are engineers.”
Maher disagreed and liked the idea put forward by former Republican governor Bill Weld that the merit-based immigration policy is “worth some fleshing out.”
“Yeah,” Maher said to Weld, “It sounds more normal Republican, the one that was ignored two weeks ago.”
Not all of the segment was in Trump’s favor, as Maher went on to blast the president for slapping a 5% tariff on Mexico in order to stem the immigration crisis.
“But I can understand how that side looks at what happened two weeks ago and went, ‘Oh, well, if you’re not going to even engage on the semi-normal proposal, let’s go back to crazy,” Maher said.
The President’s plan has two parts. First, it recognizes that full border security is the bedrock of any functioning immigration system and proposes functional, operational, and structural reforms to strengthen America’s border infrastructure and laws. Second, it creates a new merit-based legal immigration system that protects American wages and safety net programs, prioritizes immediate families, and creates a fair and transparent process for immigration to America.