'We Need to Make It Harder for Illegal Immigrants to Get Jobs' – US Scholar

US President Donald Trump has proposed providing citizenship to nearly 2 million young undocumented immigrants in exchange for funding a border wall with Mexico.

The deal would require lawmakers to set a $25 billion fund to build a wall on the border with Mexico and invest in improvements on the northern border with Canada.

Radio Sputnik discussed Trump’s proposal with Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.

Sputnik: Are you in favor of this border wall with Mexico?

Mark Krikorian: Obviously, we need to have better border controls and there are places where we do need them. We don’t have any control, any wall at all. The border is, literally, completely open. There are other places where we have some fencing or border wall, but it’s inadequate. My concern is that the president made it the most important element of his immigration agenda and, frankly, there are other things that we need to do, like making it harder for illegal immigrants to get jobs, which is something the present administration isn’t prioritizing. Slightly more than half of the new illegal immigrants settling in the US today are believed to not have jumped the border, but, rather, come in with visas as tourists or something, and they just never leave. The wall doesn’t matter to those people.

Sputnik: While Donald Trump is trying to tighten immigration he is now saying he is happy to let in 1.8 million migrants in exchange for funding [the border wall]. Isn’t there a paradox here?  

Mark Krikorian:  In a sense there is, but remember – this isn’t just a random 1.8 million illegal immigrants. The point of this is illegal migrants who came in when they were minors and have grown up here. That’s the thinking behind it. This is casting the net too wide and including too many people. It would make sense to include people who came as infants or toddlers and grew up here. That’s actually a strong case, but President Obama illegally gave work permits to some 700,000 illegal immigrants who came as kids and teenagers and cleaning up that program is the reason why we have this whole debate.

Donald Trump’s plan reportedly calls for the termination of anchor migration and visa lotteries but more than doubles the number of the so-called Dreamers.

READ MORE: Mexico Not Paying for Trump's Border Wall — Economy Minister

The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mark Krikorian and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.