If this were 1995 or 2005, perhaps conservatives really would be satisfied with policies that curbed illegal immigration while preserving the legal kind. But the Trump administration has made it crystal clear that it’s opposed to all immigration, including of the legal high-skilled variety that the right used to claim to want.
On September 19, Trump issued an executive order slapping incredibly harsh restrictions on the H-1B visa program. According to the order, and to clarifying remarks made by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, anyone who employed an H-1B worker would have to pay US$100,000 to the government every year that worker was employed.
