Washington: President Donald Trump, during the State of the Union speech, on Wednesday said that the US would end the visa lottery method and revamp the current legal immigration system.
Trump redoubled his recent pledge to offer a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants — but only as part of a package that would also require increased funding for border security, including a wall along the US-Mexico border.
He said his administration presented a four-pillar proposal "that should be supported by both parties as a fair compromise."
"The third pillar ends the visa lottery — a program that randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of American people," Trump said Jan. 30.
Addressing a deeply divided nation, the President called for a "new American moment" of unity and challenged lawmakers to make good on long-standing promises to fix a dangerously fractured immigration system, warning of evil outside forces seeking to undermine the nation's way of life.
The address blended self-congratulation and calls for optimism amid a growing economy with dark warnings about deadly gangs, the scourge of drugs and violent immigrants living in the United States illegally. Trump cast the debate over immigration — an issue that has long animated his most ardent supporters — as a battle between heroes and villains, praising the work of an immigration agent who arrested more than 100 gang members and saluting the families of two alleged gang victims.
He also spoke forebodingly of catastrophic dangers from abroad, warning that North Korea would "very soon" threaten the United States with nuclear-tipped missiles.
"The United States is a compassionate nation. We are proud that we do more than any other country to help the needy, the struggling and the underprivileged all over the world," Trump said. "But as president of the United States, my highest loyalty, my greatest compassion, and my constant concern is for America's children, America's struggling workers and America's forgotten communities."
Trump spoke with tensions running high on Capitol Hill. An impasse over immigration prompted a three-day government shutdown earlier this year, and lawmakers appear no closer to resolving the status of the "Dreamers" — young people living in the US illegally ahead of a new Feb. 8 deadline for funding operations. The parties have also clashed this week over the plans of Republicans on the House intelligence committee to release a classified memo on the Russia investigation involving Trump's presidential campaign — a decision the White House backs but the Justice Department is fighting.
The controversies that have dogged Trump — and the ones he has created— have overshadowed strong economic gains during his first year in office. His approval ratings have hovered in the 30s for much of his presidency, and just 3 in 10 Americans said the United States was heading in the right direction, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In the same survey, 67 percent of Americans said the country was more divided because of Trump.
At times, Trump's address appeared to be aimed more at validating his first year in office than setting the course for his second. He devoted significant time to touting the tax overhaul he signed at the end of last year, promising the plan will "provide tremendous relief for the middle class and small businesses." He also highlighted the decision made early in his first year to withdraw the US from a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade pact, declaring: "The era of economic surrender is totally over."
He spoke about potential agenda items for 2018 in broad terms, including a call for $1.5 trillion in new infrastructure spending and partnerships with states and the private sector. He touched only briefly on issues like health care that have been at the center of the Republican Party's policy agenda for years.
Trump played to the culture wars, alluding to his public spat with professional athletes who led protests against racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem, declaring that paying tribute to the flag is a "civic duty".
Republicans led multiple rounds of enthusiastic applause during the speech, but for the opposition party, it was a more sombre affair.
Democrats provided a short spurt of polite applause for Trump as he entered the chamber, but offered muted reactions throughout the speech.
A cluster of about two dozen Democrats, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, remained planted firmly in their seats, staring sternly at the president and withholding applause.
After devastating defeats in 2016, Democrats are hopeful that Trump's sagging popularity can help the party rebound in November's midterm elections. In a post-speech rebuttal, Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, was seeking to undercut Trump's optimistic tone and remind voters of the personal insults and attacks often levelled by the president.
"Bullies may land a punch," Kennedy said, according to excerpts from his remarks. "They might leave a mark. But they have never, not once, in the history of our United States, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their future."
On international affairs, Trump warned of the dangers from "rogue regimes," like Iran and North Korea, terrorist groups, like the Islamic State, and "rivals" like China and Russia "that challenge our interests, our economy and our values." Calling on Congress to lift budgetary caps and boost spending on the military, Trump said that "unmatched power is the surest means of our defense."
The president also announced that he had signed an executive order directing the Department of Defense to keep open the US prison at Guantanamo Bay. The order reverses the Obama-era policy of the executive branch, long stymied by Congress, to close the prison.
First lady Melania Trump, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight following the latest allegations of Trump infidelity, arrived at the capitol ahead of her husband to attend a reception with guests of the White House. Those sitting alongside the first lady included an Ohio welder who the White House says will benefit from the new tax law and the parents of two Long Island teenagers who were believed to have been killed by MS-13 gang members.
Source: www.news18.com
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Its well pleasing to every nations thsnks
Trump should know that America is blessed because they have always been giving to undeveloped and deprived countries,
He has done well. Ghanaian leaders stop chopping our money , develop our country oooooo and let's stay here. They have developed theirs and we give billions to contractors for no job done. Oh! oh Ghana, NDC finished us, NPP don't fail us like NDC OOOO
Stay in your country and develop it. If your leaders use you resources for DUBIOUS judgment debts, do you blame Trump for cutting visa lottery?
Trump is Kofi not kwaku @Togbe Afedzi. He was born on June 14, 1946
Did i hear him quote $1.5 trillion for infrastructure? Hahahaha! Ndc were in Ghana touting they've done infrastructure like no government does that almighty America is talking about infrastructure so what did ndc meant by that and wanted Ghanaians to retain them on something which is the duty of every government. Ndc will rot in opposition, they don't have nothing they thought of to show to Ghanaians, no wonder they are in post election defeat depression I heard they had another press conference on something they still don't read so don't understand hahaha! Eeeeeiii! Even an English written by one of their own, they find it difficult to understand how can they understand what President Obama wrote! Hahahahaha! Nkwaseafuo paaa ni! 21st century political jokers! There is a program on American TV show which features kids from 4-5 years to help adult contestants get correct answers to their questions for huge sums of money and because these kids help they call them Child Support and i tell you these kids are brilliant than these ndc mps who think they are university graduates! Nkwaseafuo s33! I pity those who vote for these people.
Funny story but I think the guy should end the visa lottery. They earned over half a billion dollars from Ghanaians alone last year. How much do we get in remittances from the same country in a year? This means there is money in Ghana but due to a lack of self belief, we give this money to these guys only for them to turn round and call our countries shitholes. He should cancel the programme. Let’s start holding our leaders firmly accountable and work hard to build our nation
"The third pillar ends the visa lottery — a program that randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of American people," Trump said Jan. 30.
throughout what i have read here, i didn't see anything about Trump ending visa lottery as your story is captioned. why does it seems like Ghanaian journalists are happy to see Trump ending the visa lottery because any news about immigration, you guys relate it to visa lottery or is it that, you are looking for news...aahh!
We want a proper source. What is news18?