President Trump vowed a reform of "our system of legal immigration" in his address to Congress on Tuesday evening. "Nations around the world — like Canada, Australia, and many others — have a merit-based immigration system. It is a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially," Trump said. "Yet, in America, we do not enforce this rule, straining the very public resources that our poorest citizens rely upon."
Without going into specifics, Trump added that "switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration, and instead adopting a merit-based system, will have many benefits: It will save countless dollars, raise workers' wages, and help struggling families — including immigrant families — enter the middle class."
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