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President Donald Trump may be planning to scrapmajor visa programs allowingforeign workers to enter the country in favor of a new system that gives preference to U.S. workers. A draft proposal for an executive order obtained by Bloomberg NewsMonday suggested that the administration's next move would overhaul the U.S.' system for distributing visas to foreign workers, namely the H-1B, L-1, E-2 and B1 programs.

The move comes after Trump's latest controversial executive order restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East over what the White House said were national security concerns. The administration reportedly justified the upcoming order by saying it would protect the jobs of U.S. citizens.

Our countrys immigration policies should be designed and implemented to serve, first and foremost, the U.S. national interest, the draft proposal reads, according to a copy reviewed by Bloomberg. Visa programs for foreign workers should be administered in a manner that protects the civil rights of American workers and current lawful residents, and that prioritizes the protection of American workers -- our forgotten working people -- and the jobs they hold.

The draft required companies using the visa system, which was originally intended to provide visas to companies that could not otherwise find domestic labor, to first hire U.S. workers and, if unable, togive priority to highly paid foreign workers. It also called for greater transparency throughout the process. Under President Barack Obama's administration, access to some of the program's information required a Freedom of Information Act request.

The move would likely result in a major shakeup for Silicon Valley industries heavily dependent on skilled, foreign labor. Trump has accused tech companies of outsourcing jobs to cheaper, international markets, especially India. The current H-1B visa regime, which covers skilled labor, mostly grants visasto companies that practice outsourcing.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have recently introduced legislation also aiming to restrict the H-1B visa program. Democratic Sen. Zoe Lofgren introduced a bill Wednesday tightening the program's requirements, telling CNN that the reform would "avoid this undercutting the wages of American workers." Last week, Republican Sen. Chuck Durbin of Iowa and Democratic Sen.Richard Durbin Of Illinois re-introduced a 2007 bill, targeting companies that "exploit the programs by cutting American workers for cheaper labor."

Others, such as Indian economistSonal Varma ofNomura, have indicated the potential harm that further limits on H-1B visas could have on both the U.S. and Indian economy. She highlighted the massive remittances sent to Indians working in the U.S. Indian tech corporations have argued the current system keeps jobs in the U.S. and that increased obstacles would encourage companies to work remotely rather send workers to the U.S. Others have argued that access to cheap labor makes companies more competitive.

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Immigration Reform 2017: Trump Administration New H-1B Visa Rule Could Hurt High-Skilled Foreign Workers - International Business Times

A longtime advocate of immigrationreformapplauds the University of Illinois revised languageon protecting students who may be here illegallyas the Trump administration threatensto deport them. Illinois Public Medias Jeff Bossert has more:

Listen to the radio story.

Lawyer and U of I law professor Francis Boyle says altered language from President Tim Killeen essentially makes the U of Is three campuses sanctuaries without using that term.

Killeens comments in a mass e-mail last week says the U of I doesnt inquire or keep records on a students immigration status, and that campus police wont detain someone basedsolelyon an Immigration and Customs Enforcement request. Boyle says that should reassure students.

Shortly after Novembers election, Killeenfirstresponded to a petition signed by thousands at the U of I saying he would offer support to all students, but that becoming a sanctuary campus would violate the law.

Professor Boyle says this action essentially mirrors what University of California President and former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano - has done for her students.

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Immigration Reform Advocate Applauds U of I 'Sanctuary' Status - Peoria Public Radio

The decision by President Donald Trump to impose a broad immigration ban on seven countries may have an impact he didn't foresee.

The ban, a 90-day moratorium on admissions and re-entry in the United States unveiled on Friday, isn't about H-1B visa-holders specifically. And it doesn't grow out of the his voiced concerns about the use of that visa to displace U.S. workers. Instead it affects tourists, business and student visas. Those with permanent residency, or green cards, are also affected.

Trump's ban, issued through an executive order, affects all visa types in seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The action is ostensibly intended as an anti-terrorism measure. It targets some, but not all, Muslim-majority countries; Saudi Arabia, for instance, is not on the list.

Aside from inflaming civil liberties groups, sparking court fights and spontaneous demonstrations last night at various U.S. airports, the move is also giving the tech industry a renewed voice and a rallying point on immigration. This comes at the same time the Trump administration is expected to begin pushing for H-1B reforms.

Among those speaking out was Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, whose Twitter feed included a steady stream of retweets critical of Trump's action.

"The Executive Order's humanitarian and economic impact is real and upsetting. We benefit from what refugees and immigrants bring to the U.S.," wrote Dorsey, and "This EO goes against our principles."

The tech leaders looked beyond the seven-country ban to make a broad push for immigration reform. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg urged Trump to help the "750,000 Dreamers benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that allows them to live and work legally in the US. I hope the President and his team keep these protections in place."

A federal court ruled late Saturday that the U.S. could not deport citizens of the banned countries who had already arrived in the U.S. It was prompted by a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Trump's move was put into place so fast it literally affected people in transit.

"This was done with almost no notice," said Carl Shusterman, a Los Angeles-based immigration attorney. He said his office received a leaked draft of the executive order last Tuesday and began advising people about what was in the pipeline.

"I think this is causing a lot of chaos for really no reason at all," said Shusterman.

Trump's order prompted tech firms to scramble to locate and notify affected employees, and to issue statements over the weekend.

"As an immigrant and as a CEO, I've both experienced and seen the positive impact that immigration has on our company, for the country, and for the world," wrote Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a posting on LinkedIn on Saturday. "We will continue to advocate on this important topic."

Microsoft said it has identified 76 employees who are citizens of the seven countries who have a U.S. visa and are affected. But it also said there may be other affected employees who have green cards.

The seven countries cited by the Trump administration have had no role in the ongoing H-1B visa debate. In 2014, nearly 70% of all H-1B visas were issued to people born in India, according to U.S. data.

Ron Hira, associate professor of public policy at Howard University, ran an analysis of the visas issued in the 2013 fiscal year alone and found a total of 1,220 H-1B visas, new visas or renewals, from workers in all seven countries.

In that year, Iran had the largest number of visa holders, with 810. It was followed by Syria, with 280; Libya, with 53; and Iraq, at 46. The Sudan accounted for 18 visas; Yemen, 11; and Somalia, 2.

In 2013, Microsoft was the top employer of H-1B-visa workers from the seven countries, with 31. It was followed by Qualcomm at 21, and Google at 15, according to Hira.

"The Iran numbers suggest to me that it is foreign students who graduated from U.S. universities" as well as having family ties in the U.S., he said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry, in a statement carried by Iranian media, called the U.S. move "insulting" and an "open affront" and said it is considering a reciprocal response.

The Trump order also has broad impacts.

"If a company wants to hire a worker from one of those countries, they won't be able to get a visa for at least 90 days," said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law practice at Cornell University. "Foreign national employees on work visas who are temporarily overseas may not be able to return."

The Computing Research Association, in a statement, warned that the Trump order "may also discourage foreign-born researchers from bringing their talents to the U.S. in the future, which would have significantly detrimental impacts on our national competitiveness."

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Trump immigration ban means a war with tech - Computerworld

President Donald Trump has been criticized for adopting his "America first" campaign slogan because of its fraught historical implications. But it shouldn't be controversial that Trump wishes to shape his policies for the benefit of the country he leads.

That's at least as true on immigration as in on any other issue. Trump signed two executive orders Wednesday setting in motion the building of a wall on America's southern border. There are many border walls in the world and there is nothing inherently wrong with them. (Comparisons with the Berlin Wall are utterly inapt, for that edifice was built to keep people imprisoned within, rather than intended to keep people out).

The trouble with a wall is not that it does too much but that it does too little. A wall won't solve today's most pressing immigration problems.

"We are in the midst of a crisis on our southern border," Trump said at his appearance at the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday. However that may be in the intangible sense that the U.S. no longer controls its frontiers as it should, it is not so if Trump's words were intended to convey a flood of illegal aliens coming north into America.

Border crossings are way down. The Pew Research Center has found that the number of illegal immigrants coming from Mexico has decreased for the last nine years, and more Mexicans are leaving via our southern border than are trying to come in.

Most immigrants who arrive in America illegally aren't burrowing under fences or trying to evade border control agents. And most aren't the young male gang members of campaign imagery, but young mothers with small children fleeing mayhem and seeking shelter in the U.S. They approach the border hoping to be detained so they can get a hearing before an asylum judge. They are escaping gangs and poverty-ridden countries in Central America, specifically Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador. About 80,000 Latin Americans sought asylum last year, up 900 percent in less than a decade.

An even bigger problem are people who enter the country legally then fail to leave once their visas run out. A recent estimate suggests this accounts for three-fifths of illegal immigrants. A Homeland Security Department study found that nearly half a million people were here illegally because of visa overstays in 2015, and that more than twice as many (93,000) came from Canada as from Mexico (42,000). Again, a wall will do nothing to address this problem.

A better approach would be to control which foreigners are granted residency. Immigration resonated with voters this year not merely as a security issue, but also as a jobs issue. Some critics overstate the negative effects of immigrants on the economy and ignore the benefits. But there are economic costs, and American workers have good reason to complain about mass immigration.

It drives down wages, the best recent research shows. Harvard economist George Borjas described his findings this way: "When the supply of workers goes up, the price that firms have to pay to hire workers goes down. Wage trends over the past half-century suggest that a 10 percent increase in the number of workers with a particular set of skills probably lowers the wage of that group by at least 3 percent."

The biggest victims are low-skilled workers.

Guest-worker programs aren't about helping the oppressed or welcoming new citizens. Their purpose is to provide lower-wage labor for businesses. Guest workers are less free to demand higher wages or better treatment, because "you're fired," also means "you're deported."

President Trump should end the low-skilled guest-worker program and reform the high-skilled program. White House adviser Stephen Miller has the good idea of allocating high-skilled guest-worker visas to the highest-paying jobs. Another good idea, as Washington Examiner columnist Michael Barone has noted, is to emulate Australia's skilled immigration points test, under which applicants must score a minimum number of points, based on age, skill, education, English language proficiency and other factors, to be granted residency.

These are just a few examples of what can be done. Trump should think beyond the wall when it comes to reforming our broken immigration system.

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Editorial: Immigration reform, beyond Trump's wall - Colorado Springs Gazette

Shortly after signing documents in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump said his crackdown on refugees and citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries "is not a Muslim ban." (Jan. 28) AP

President Trump signs an executive order barring immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Jan. 27, 2017.(Photo: Olivier Douliery / POOL, EPA)

The future of President Trump's executive order suspending immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries may come down to a legal battle between his powers as commander in chief and discrimination limitationsestablished by Congress.

A federal judge in New York issued a temporary, nationwide stay on the order late Saturday night. Lawyers, pushed along by a growing group of protesters, spent the day trying to free immigrants who were traveling when Trump's order was released, leaving them either detained at U.S. airports or stranded overseas.

But the legality of Trump's order won't be completely clear until it faces more hearings in federal court as Trump's Department of Justice squares off with a team of lawyers from civil rights and immigration advocacy groups.

Supporters of Trump's plan say he is standing on firm legal ground to banimmigrantsand refugees temporarily from those countries because they pose a national security threat. Trump's order opens by citing the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and explains that the immigration suspension is necessary to give the federal government time to strengthen its vetting procedures for people coming from terror-prone countries.

"Throughout the history of this country, courts have given, for obvious reasons, the executive extraordinary latitude in making determinations associated with national security,"said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for lower levels of legal and illegal immigration. "And this is a national security judgement, something that courts would never want to interfere with."

Sara Flounders from Jersey City at the Union Square subway station en route to JFK protests. Rick Green/NorthJersey.com

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Critics of Trump's plan say his national security argument is undercut by his repeated calls on the campaign trail for a "Muslim ban" and his comments Friday that he wants to prioritize the immigration of persecuted Christians over Muslims. Trump's ban also applies to everyone from Syria.

David Leopold, a Cleveland immigration attorney and past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said a president clearly has a right to bar certain immigrants or groups of immigrants from entering the U.S. Trump's order cited a long-standing federal law that allows a president to bar entry to any immigrants or group of immigrants who the president deems"detrimental to the interests of the United States."

"But what the Trump administration failed to do," Leopold said, "is understand that nothing in our law justifies banning an entire religion, banning an entire nationality. He's going to have to answer how he can say that all of Syria is detrimental."

Leopold's argument rests largely on the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which forbids discrimination against immigrants based on their "nationality, place of birth, or place of residence." The U.S. had previously used an immigration system that set a limit on the number of people who could enter the U.S. from each country, a system that heavily favored immigration from western Europe.

USA TODAY

U.S. immigrants react to ban: 'Our president is trying to divide us'

But that law has been set aside by presidents during national emergencies, according toMichael Hethmon, senior counsel at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, which provides legal support to legislators and politicians who want to reduce immigration.

Hethmon uses the example of President Carter, who in 1980 barred some Iranians from entering the U.S. during a crisis over 52Americans being held hostage in Tehran. He said that case mirrors what Trump is facing now the United States facing a large numberof people in specific countries who are trying to harm the U.S.

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"The court will say, 'There's a rational basis for picking these seven countries,'" Hethmon said. "They're all in the midst of civil conflict, they're all places where terrorist networks that are particularly dangerous to the U.S. exists. There are multiple reasons why refugees from these countries merit additional, or even extensive, scrutiny."

The seven are Iran, Sudan and Syria which comprise the State Departmentslist of state sponsors of terrorism plus Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

The key for a court to understand the true intent behind Trump's order whether it's a religious ban or a national security concern could lie in one paragraph of his executive order. Itdeclares that once the refugee program is reinstated, the Department of Homeland Security must prioritize refugee claims made by persecuted religious minorities.

"Whoever drafted the order, I think they thought they were being incredibly clever immunizing this from legal scrutiny," saidJens David Ohlin, an international law professor at Cornell Law School. "But they might have shot themselves in the foot with that one."

Ohlin said that one section, which he said was the only piece of the order that did not pin itself to the national security argument, may open the entire order to questions about favoring one religion over another. It also follows comments Trump made to the Christian Broadcast Service on Friday, when hesaid Christians had been treated unfairly under the U.S. refugee program and they needed to be prioritized in the future.

"Courts are going to be giving really serious scrutiny to that one," Ohlin said.

As legal questions continue to swirl over Trump's order, only one certainty exists. "This is the start of a wave of litigation," saidOmar Jadwat, director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project.

Protests flared as President Trump's executive order blocked refugees from entering U.S. airports, including travelers who already had valid visas. USA TODAY NETWORK

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Hear the chants protesters belted out at San Francisco International Airport on behalf of refugees banned under President Trump's executive order on immigration. USA TODAY NETWORK

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In the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration Friday, many critics quickly took up a familiar rallying cry, lifting words from the Statue of Liberty that have for decades represented American immigration. Time

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President Donald Trump has barred all refugees from entering the United States for four months, and indefinitely banned all refugees from Syria. USA TODAY NETWORK

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Lawyers say dozens of travelers from countries named in President Trump's recent executive order were held at John F. Kennedy International Airport and other airports Saturday amid confusion about whether they could legally enter the country. Time

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Shortly after signing documents in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump said his crackdown on refugees and citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries "is not a Muslim ban." (Jan. 28) AP

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Iran says U.S. citizens are no longer welcome in the country. Buzz60

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Activists protested on Saturday the detention of two Iraqi citizens at New York City's JFK airport, one day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES Video provided by AFP Newslook

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US President Donald Trump unleashed a wave of alarm Saturday with his order to temporarily halt all refugee arrivals and impose tough controls on travelers from seven Muslim countries. Video provided by AFP Newslook

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Lawyers are taking action against President Donald Trump's immigration policy. Veuer's Keleigh Nealon (@keleighnealon) has the story. Buzz60

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President Donald Trump's signing of an executive action to bring sweeping changes to the nation's refugee policies is causing fear and alarm for immigrants in the U.S. whose family members will be affected. (Jan. 27) AP

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Confusion, worry and outrage grew Saturday as President Donald Trump's crackdown on refugees and citizens from seven majority-Muslim countries took effect. (Jan. 28) AP

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Trump's refugee screening takes immediate effect

Protestors rally at JFK Airport over President Trump's executive order

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Iran says U.S. citizens are no longer welcome in the country

Activists protest Trump's immigration policy at JFK airport

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Experts question legality of Trump's immigration ban on Muslim countries - USA TODAY