Trump Keeps Complimenting Canada's Immigration System

But how much does he want to mimic it in the US?
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 3, 2017 1:57 PM CST
Trump Keeps Complimenting Canada's Immigration System
President Trump keeps praising Canada's "merit-based" immigration system, but it remains unclear how much he wants to emulate it in the US.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

After praising Canada's immigration system during his address to Congress on Tuesday, President Trump was back at it again on Friday, USA Today reports. "The merit-based system is the way to go," Trump tweeted after watching a story about immigration on Fox & Friends. It's unclear exactly to what extent Trump wants the US to adopt the Canadian model, and the White House declined to clarify his comments on the matter, according to CNN. "He's very clearly saying we should stop importing poverty," says the president of a group that supports limiting immigration. But immigration advocates say that while "merit-based" immigration sounds good, it can be used as a tool to drastically reduce all legal immigration, especially the low-skilled workers necessary for farming and more.

Canada adopted an immigration system in the 1960s that awards prospective immigrants points for education, language skills, work experience, and more. The result is that most of Canada's immigrants are there for economic reasons. Meanwhile, most legal immigrants in the US are here because of family connections. Also unlike in the US, immigration is widely popular with Canadians, the New York Times reports. And Canada plans to take in far more immigrants, proportionally speaking, than the US in the coming year. A version of Canada's system has already been adopted by Japan, Denmark, Australia, and the UK. (More immigration stories.)

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