Whoever wins the White House will be under pressure to introduce immigration reform. Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton has pledged to do this within her first 100 days in office, if she wins the election, and clamping down on illegal immigration has been a cornerstone of the Republican candidate, Donald Trump’s campaign.
There are many political difficulties to large-scale immigration reform, but also small yet crucial changes to the current immigration system, which could make a difference. One such change would be for the President to take executive action to change the way employment-based green cards are allocated by the US government. Under the current law, up to 140,000 high-skilled immigrants should be given green cards every year. However, a faulty interpretation of the 1990 law counts the skilled workers’ family members against the cap. This means that the majority of cards are given to family members. Changing this would double the annual number of green cards issued and decrease the backlog for Chinese, Filipino, and Indian immigrants.
A comprehensive review of regulations governing temporary guest worker US visas to streamline and deregulate these, would be another vital reform. A complex series of regulations currently beset temporary workers. Reducing that burden would make it easier for US employers to hire guest workers.
A third reform should give autonomy for states to run their own US visa systems in parallel with the US government. This would help with supply and demand for guest workers in state-specific fields, such as agriculture.