Donald Trump announced plans for new immigration laws on Wednesday that would cut the total number of immigrants admitted to the US by half over a decade and prioritize those who can speak English or are well educated, The Guardian reports.
The proposed legislation, unveiled at the White House, would also cap the number of refugees admitted to the US every year at 50,000, and eliminate the diversity visa lottery, which currently allocates 50,000 visas a year to residents of countries that do not currently send significant numbers of migrants to the US.
An estimate provided by the office of one of the bill’s sponsors, the Republican senator Tom Cotton, stated that if passed, the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (Raise) Act would reduce the number of immigrants admitted to the US by 41% in its first year and by 50% over a 10-year-period.
