Trump Is Showing Just How Much Xenophobia You Can Enact Without Changing A Law

He can't make wholesale changes to immigration law, but there's no law against Operation Slowdown.

The fiction, pushed by any dime-store bigot trying to win a Republican primary, is that “illegal immigration” is a threat to national security. They want Cubans in Florida and Mexicans in Texas and white people everywhere to think that they’re not bigoted towards all immigrants, just the “illegal” ones — the “illegal ALIEN ones” even — who “cut the line” and threaten America with their EVIL desires to work low-paying jobs and create a better life for their children.

Talking about “illegals” plays well on the campaign trail, but make no mistake: the Republican project is to stop the general browning of America. They want to stop the diversification of America. And to do that you can’t just focus on “illegal” immigrants. There aren’t that many undocumented people in the country. No, to make America “safe” for white men who are used to being in charge, you have to find ways to attack legal immigration.

The problem, of course, is that frontal attack on legal immigration is more obviously bigoted, and harder to do unless all three branches of government are on the same page. Look at how difficult it’s been for Trump to ban people based on their religion. Most white people are racist enough to go along with the Muslim ban, but the courts keep frustrating Trump’s efforts.

But the Trump administration is learning how to slow down legal immigration without any act of Congress or change in laws. They’re using that oldest of lawyer tricks, they’re drowning potential immigrants in paper until they give up.

The New York Times reports that H-1B Visas are being held up with additional requests for information:

Officials are asking for extra details about applicants’ education and work history, the position to be filled and the employer, requiring the company to amass many additional documents, which can postpone a decision by several months.

For H-1Bs, the number of such “requests for evidence” from January to August this year jumped 44 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the most recent data from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

So far, the government is still greenlighting most H-1B applications that survive the lottery, but the approval rate is inching down.

Companies are, predictably, reluctant to deal with the extra administrative costs:

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Once a company has spent thousands of dollars in attorney fees to petition for a worker, “there is huge discouragement after an R.F.E. is issued,” said Roxanne Levine, an immigration attorney in New York, “because of the massive extra time, effort and money required to respond.”

One of the reasons Trump’s disdain for legal immigration is effective is that immigrant groups are not similarly situated. There’s a competition for spots, and each group thinks they’re more deserving than the other. Again, this is a really old game, keep minorities fighting among themselves, and the white man wins.

Russell Harrison, director of government relations for IEEE-USA, a society of technology professionals, applauded the administration’s efforts to tackle visa abuse. However, he said, a blanket approach could stifle American competitiveness.

“They seem to be against anyone coming in, which is a simplistic view,” Mr. Harrison said. “There are some incredibly talented people not born in this country and they are being treated just like other workers who are cheap.”

Oh, my guys are “incredibly talented,” those guys are “cheap.” Let’s have more of my guys and fewer of your guys.

It will take an incredibly competent and visionary leader to reverse all of the damage Trump does to our country and values. I’m not sure such a leader exists. It’s so much easier to wreck something, like our visa program, than it is to resurrect something, like our ability to attract the most talented and hard-working people from around the world.

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There’s not much of a silver lining here… but I at least take solace in the knowledge that if Trump doesn’t build his stupid wall — which he won’t — the mouth-breathing xenophobes who get excited about mistreating immigrants will feel like Trump under-delivered. Trump is doing all kinds of damage to our immigration system, but his idiot base probably doesn’t understand exactly how effective he’s being.

Without New Laws or Walls, Trump Presses the Brake on Legal Immigration [New York Times]