This archive report was first published on 17 July 2019.
On July 16, 2019, US President Trump's administration reportedly drafted a new bill aimed at boosting border security and overhauling the current immigration system in favor of a more merit-based one.
According to a senior administration official, President Trump presented the bill to his Cabinet on Tuesday, with a meeting between Trump and Republican congressional leaders Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy scheduled to take place later that day to deliberate on a way forward.
The official, who sought anonymity, did not provide details on when the bill would be introduced to Congress, but stated that the goal of the bill was to unify Republicans around a plan.
“The goal of this has been to unify the Republicans as much as possible around a plan,” the official said.
He added that the bill has 10 Republican Senate co-sponsors and that the administration would see what Republican leaders wanted to do with the bill before deciding on a course of action.
Trump has been fighting with Congress and in courts for funding to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, which he pledged to construct in his 2016 run for office.
Under the proposed bill, the US would phase out its decades-old practice of giving priority to family-based immigration, with 75 percent of all immigrants granted green cards for US residency each year having family ties to people in the US.
