Another brick

摘要

FOUR YEARS ago Donald Trump set out a ten-point plan for reshaping a chaotic immigration system. Beyond building a wall and deporting foreigners, he vowed America would "choose immigrants based on merit", while imposing controls "to boost wages and to ensure that open jobs are offered to American workers first." To a remarkable extent he has since found ways to choke off inflows of foreigners. Before covid-19 hit, his administration cut arrivals of undocumented migrants by striking a deal last year with Mexico's government to prevent Central Americans claiming asylum at the border. It has greatly reduced the number of official resettlement opportunities for refugees, where America had led the rest of the world for decades. It also made it harder for those already in America to apply for the green cards that allow them to live and work in the country. Now it is using the economic slump to justify a clamp-down on high-skilled migrants too.