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USA Today NetworkDan Nowicki, The Arizona Republic Published 9:08 p.m. ET Aug. 3, 2017 | Updated 12:54 a.m. ET Aug. 4, 2017

Sen. John McCain talks about the need for immigrants with all skill levels and how the issue should be handled as part of an overall package, during an interview with The Arizona Republic on Aug. 3, 2017. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral.com

Sen. John McCain speaks with reporter Dan Nowicki at The Arizona Republic in downtown Phoenix, Aug. 3, 2017.(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Republic)

PHOENIX A week after his dramatic call for bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, Sen. John McCain says he wants to revive a long-standing attempt to reform the nations immigration system when he returns to Washington.

Before leaving Washington for treatment for brain cancer, McCain, R-Ariz., said he broached the idea with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The two collaborated on unsuccessful immigration legislation in 2013 as part of the bipartisan effort known as the "Gang of Eight."

President Trump's goal of building a U.S.-Mexico border wall might provide an opening for a bigger bargain on the issue, McCain said.

"Immigration reform is one of the issues I'd like to see resolved," McCain told The Arizona Republicin a Thursday interview. "I've got to talk to him (Schumer) about when would be the best time. I think there are all kinds of deals to be made out there. I really do."

His goal remains a long shot in the Trump era, with Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., running the Senate and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., leading the House of Representatives.

Even at times when the White House was friendly to the idea, success on the issue has proved elusive for McCain, who has worked on comprehensive immigration reform bills for more than 10 years. But while former presidentsGeorge W. Bush and Barack Obama wanted immigration reform, Trump has appeared hostile to any approach that would balance border-security investments with a pathway for citizenship for immigrants without legal status who have settled in the United States.

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McCain's remarks came a day after Trump backed a Senate bill from Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and David Perdue, R-Ga., that proposes sharp cuts to legal immigration.

But the six-term McCain, who turns 81 on Aug. 29, also is in a more reflective place in his long Senate career as he faces a serious health challenge and undergoes chemotherapy for brain cancer.

"We'll know in a few weeks," McCain said of the cancer on Thursday in a meeting with Arizona Republic editors and reporters. "I hate the use the word 'beat it,' because it's not a matter of beating. You either get cured or you don't get cured."

The nation's eyes were on McCain in the early hours of July28when he gave a decisive thumb's down to the Senate Republican "skinny repeal" health-care legislation, which had the effect of derailing the current GOP push to undo the Affordable Care Act, one of Obama's signature accomplishments.

Earlier in the week, McCain who returned to Washington after a surprise July 14 craniotomy to remove a blood clot that revealed the cancer entranced his colleagues with a memorable July 25 floor speech in which he decried the Senate's current state of partisan dysfunction and urged a return to bipartisan camaraderie and compromise.

McCain said he was "shocked" the rest of the Senate stuck around to hear him speak.

"I think they stayed to listen, not so much because of my vote, because of what I was trying to say," McCain said. "They're not happy with this polarization. They're not happy with this not getting anything done. That's not why they come to the Senate."

In the meeting with the newspaper's editorial board, McCain said Schumer is in agreement about the need to return to immigration reform.

"Basically it's what we passed last time, brought up to date with the new challenges, like opioids," McCain said. "It's still there. We got 68 votes, I think, the last time. I don't think that's going to be any different next time."

It's conceivable that a group of bipartisan-minded Republicans in the Senate can make common cause with bipartisan-minded Democrats.

One longtime champion of comprehensive immigration reform applauded McCain's return to the fray, despite the long odds.

"It's difficult to imagine Trump signing a comprehensive immigration reform bill because he's so focused on stoking his base," said Frank Sharry, the executive director of the liberal-leaning national pro-reform organization America's Voice.

"But you can see how more and more people are moving away from Trump as his poll ratings sink, as his lying becomes endemic, and his temperament is so obviously juvenile," he said. "It's conceivable that a group of bipartisan-minded Republicans in the Senate can make common cause with bipartisan-minded Democrats."

McCain would be the natural leader of such a movement, Sharry said.

In 2013, McCain and Schumer led the bipartisan Gang of Eight, which also consisted of Republican Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

Their legislation aimed to balance border security with a pathway to citizenship and a modernized visa system.

In his new book, Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle, Flake positively recounted his role in the immigration deliberations, which resulted in a bill that passed the Senate but went nowhere in the Republican-controlled House.

More: Trump backs GOP senators' plan to crack down on legal immigration

More: Full text of John McCain's Senate floor speech: 'Lets return to regular order'

"The Gang of Eight four Republicans, four Democrats proved that the process as designed can actually work," Flake wrote in the book.

For his part, McCain said he realizes it won't be easy, and doesn't know if he could ever persuade to Trump and McConnell to go along.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that if we could pass it through the House and Senate the way we passed it through the Senate last time, it's like this Russia (sanctions) bill, it doesn't matter," McCain said. "Do you think he signed it because he liked it?"

Concerns about border wall and merit-based immigration

In conversations with The Republic, McCain was skeptical that the Senate would support a wall as envisioned by Trump, or its price tag. He emphasized, as others have, that certain stretches of the border don't need a wall because of natural barriers.

"I'm not against a border wall, OK, but go to China and you'll see a border wall there," McCain said. "We need technology, we need drones, we need surveillance capabilities and we need rapid-reaction capabilities. But to think that a wall is going to stop illegal immigration or drugs is crazy."

McCain said he supports merit-based immigration but worries about how farm labor, such as the workers who pick lettuce in Yuma, and other low-skilled workers would fare under the Cotton-Perdue bill that Trump is backing.

"I think you have to consider that we do want high-tech people, but we also need low-skilled people who will do work that Americans won't do," McCain said. "I wouldn't do it. Even in my misspent youth, I wouldn't do it."

Follow Dan Nowickion Twitter: @dannowicki

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McCain aims to revive immigration reform when he returns to Congress - USA TODAY

The liberal elite such as those at CNN quote Emma Lazarus poem as if its one of our nations founding documents.

Its a poem.

Wouldnt it be marvelous if they were as passionate about our actual founding documents? They like to shrug that the Constitution is a quasi-relevant living document whose words can be bent to whatever shape the current generation likes. Oddly, they never say that about Lazarus prose.

Instead, in almost partisan pushback Wednesday against a proposed immigration policy that simply puts American interests forward, CNNs Jim Acosta accosted Trump administration aide Stephen Miller about how the policy would somehow violate Lazarus um, poem The New Colossus inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

Make no mistake, the sonnets flowing notions are a lovely sentiment and ideal one that this page ascribes to and which, truth be known, America has lived up to to a fault. Miller notes that the foreign-born population coming into the U.S. has quadrupled since 1970.

We have led the league in immigration, and certainly in the illegal kind, and have strained our ability to absorb it all, particularly since so many immigrants have been low-skilled, low-income workers who have depressed wages and have been prime candidates for government aid. And in the age of terror, we have done so at great risk to our own safety.

Its a wonder there arent cracks on Lady Libertys shoulders.

Acostas diatribe argumentative, interruping and sanctimonious, rather than merely inquisitive objected to reducing immigration, though he offered no specific target number that would please him or the Statue of Liberty. And he seemed to imply that requiring English proficiency is somehow mean, when in reality its the furthest thing from compassion to encourage immigrants not to learn the dominant language in their new country. Its also required for citizenship.

Yet bizarrely, Acosta appeared to equate the English language with a race that we are now only going to allow in people from England and Australia and engineer a racial and ethnic flow of people into this country.

What world-class ignorance. People all over the world speak English; it is the unofficial language of world commerce. Nearly 60 countries in the world have enshrined English as their official language (though, interestingly, we have not). But its racist to expect new Americans to speak it? Good grief.

This is the uphill battle our leaders must fight against the political correctness cops in the media. But most Americans have to be thankful theyre fighting it: 72 percent favor tight restrictions on immigration. Heaven forbid we institute an American policy that actually benefits America.

Were proud that Georgia Sen. David Perdue is in the forefront of this, along with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, helping lead the charge for an orderly, thoughtful, merit-based legal immigration system that actually takes Americas best interests into consideration: The Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act would take into account what skills America needs and what skills, including language, prospective immigrants would bring with them.

This isnt the end of the world. It isnt overturning Lazarus. As Perdue notes, currently only 1 out of 15 immigrants come here with a marketable skill.

All were asking is to tip the scales a little back toward Americas interests.

Its long overdue.

Visit link:
Now, this is immigration reform - The Augusta Chronicle

Looking at all new job seekers born here and abroad actually reveals a significant decline in new workers competing for American jobs. During the postwar period from 1948 to 1980, as incomes rose for all workers, the labor force grew by 76 percent, driven largely by baby boomers and women entering the labor force for the first time. Since then, declining birthrates have led to about half as many new competitors entering the labor force each year, despite many more immigrants.

Less-educated Americans also faced less competition. The ranks of non-college educated workers swelled 50 percent in the postwar period, compared with just 16 percent in recent decades. During both periods, high school dropouts saw a near continuous decline in labor market competition from workers born here or elsewhere. In contrast, college graduates actually dealt with more competition than they had before.

All this suggests that the stagnation of wages has other origins, such as new technology and the increasing burden of regulations, not more job seekers immigrant or otherwise.

The senators analysis suffers from similar confusion when they say that their bill would create a system modeled after Canada and Australia. Controlling for population, these countries accept two to three times as many legal immigrants as America.

A related fiction is that the bill would prioritize skilled immigrants. In fact, it contains no more visas for skilled workers than our current law does. All the bill would do is cut the number of visas for the family members of United States citizens. Canada and Australia prioritize skilled workers by allowing far more of them to come while also accepting more family members than we do.

Canada and Australia arent the only ones surpassing us in terms of welcoming immigrants; 17 developed countries accept more legal immigrants as a share of their population than does the United States. This places the United States at an economic disadvantage in the global race for talent. For years, Canada has attracted skilled immigrants from America, and Microsoft even opened an office there specifically to take advantage of its system.

In other contexts, Senators Perdue and Cotton have often discussed how Americas tax and regulatory policies send jobs overseas. But micromanaging labor markets from Washington has the same damaging effect, pushing businesses away from the United States and hurting those that remain.

Rather than cutting immigration, Congress should raise the employment-based quotas, which it has not adjusted since 1990 when the United States had some 77 million fewer people and the economy was half the size it is now. A smart reform would double green cards and peg future work visas to economic growth, responding to market forces rather than political whims.

Smart reforms, however, require that Congress first understand the basic facts: America has not seen a deluge of immigration. Low-skilled American-born workers have not faced more competition for jobs. Other countries accept more immigrants per capita. Until these facts penetrate the halls of the Capitol, the immigration debate will continue to be mired in ignorant proposals like this.

See original here:
Ignorant Immigration Reform - New York Times

Arizona Senator John McCain, temporarilybeloved by some on the left for casting adeciding vote against Obamacare repeal, wants the Senate to pursue bipartisan immigration reform. But with the high-profile immigration reform failurein 2013 and the election of immigration hard-liner Donald Trump, McCain will face an uphill battle.

McCain toldThe Arizona RepublicThursday that he discussed the matter with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer before leaving Washington for brain cancer treatment.

"Immigration reform is one of the issues I'd like to see resolved," McCain said. "I've got to talk to him [Schumer]about when would be the best time. I think there are all kinds of deals to be made out there. I really do."

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Immigration reform will be an incredibly difficult task in the current political environment, however. In 2013, McCain and Schumer worked together ona bipartisan Gang of Eight bill which passed the Senate but diedin the House. Thatbill would have created a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the United States in exchange for increased border security and visa tracking.

Most congressional Republicanslikely will have no interest in supporting anyproposals Democrats would be willing to sign on to. Arguably, Trump made building a wall on the southern border the central tenet of his winning campaign. Hisadministration is touting a decrease inborder-crossing rates, and increases in requests from localities for removal of undocumented immigrants who allegedlyhave committed crimes.

This week, the administration expressed support for a long-shot bill that would create a merit-based immigration systemprioritizing English-speaking immigrants and reducing overall legal immigration numbers.

But McCain told the Republic he believes Trumps calls for a border wall could reopen bipartisan negotiations on the issue, adding that Schumer agreed it is time for the Senate to return to discussing it.

"Basically it's what we passed last time, brought up-to-date with the new challenges," McCain said. "It's still there. We got 68 votes, I think, the last time. I don't think that's going to be any different next time."

Fellow Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake also was a Gang of Eight member and discusses the process in his new book, Conscience of a Conservative. He wrote that the bipartisan group proved that the process as designed can actually work.

Although McCain admitted Trump may not agree to move forward on the issue, he said if it passes the Senate and House by a large enough margin, he may not have a choice.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that if we could pass it through the House and Senate the way we passed it through the Senate last time, it's like this Russia [sanctions]bill, it doesn't matter," said McCain. "Do you think he signed it because he liked it?"

See the rest here:
John McCain Wants Immigration Reform, But Is That Possible in Trump's America? - Newsweek

After the unveiling of the Trump administration's latest agenda-setting direction on immigration reform, Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina says the country needs a "hybrid" policy that reflects America's economy and family needs instead.

"I want to make sure that folks have an opportunity to assimilate to what it means to be an American and so what we should look for are hybrids where we meet our economic needs and at the same time allow for family cohesion to be what it always has been, which is the anchor of the American society," Scott said on "CBS This Morning" Thursday.

24 Photos

In 2015, about 25 million foreign-born workers were part of the U.S. labor force. What fields did they flock to?

The RAISE act, which Mr. Trump threw his support behindat a press event Wednesday with the bill's sponsors, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, would establish a "points-based system for acquiring a green card," according to Mr. Trump. It would reduce the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country while also preventing immigrants from collecting welfare once they arrive in the United States.

The bill aims to make the U.S. immigration system more competitive through rewarding immigrants who speak English, have financial stability and demonstrate useful skills, among other factors.

It would also end "chain migration" in the green card application process by only extending to immediate family, such as minor children and spouses. Finally, the legislation would limit the number of refugees permitted to enter the country and eliminate the visa lottery, which makes 55,000 Permanent Resident cards available every year to immigrants from "underrepresented countries," according to the Department of Labor.

"The problems within our legal immigration system isn't the number," Scott said. "If there's needs for reforms, we should reform the systems that need to be reformed, but the reality of it is it has less to do with the number and more to do with reforms and in South Carolina there's a lot of jobs that go unfilled because we can't the workers to do those jobs."

While Scott called the use of a merit-based system of entry for immigrants a "good idea" successfully implemented by other countries like Canada and Australia, he said the crucial step is to help fill the "largest holes in the our economy."

Scott said sectors like STEM (science, technology engineering and math) and agriculture are two areas where workers are desperately needed.

Scott's comments come after his South Carolina Republican colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham, said that if the RAISE proposal becomes law, it would be "devastating to South Carolina's economy, which relies on the immigrant workforce." Graham said it would cut the immigration population in half for those who work legally in areas like agriculture, tourism and service industries.

Scott says it's certainly possible to have both a merit-based program and one that allows for "family cohesion" to continue.

"I'm a big proponent for us to sit down at the table, figure out which way is up, because right now we have a lot of issues we haven't figured that out on, and if we can figure that out, head in that direction. So for me, up is more workers who meet the high demands that we have within our economy. We need to match the folks coming into the country with the jobs that we need."

He added, however, that legal immigration has not been the main priority for lawmakers as of late.

"There's nothing wrong with making sure that we create access for family members who are already here as long as we do it right, and the legal immigration system has not been the focus, nor has it been the problem for us for the last several years."

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Sen. Tim Scott calls for "hybrid" system of immigration reform - CBS ... - CBS News