Heavy Majority Want Merit Based Immigration System

The majority of 1st World Nations already have merit based immigration systems in place. Heck, many 2nd and 3rd world nations have the same. Nations would prefer that people who come in have skills, won’t be a drain on the nation, speak the language, and will assimilate

(Daily Caller) The vast majority of Americans prefer an immigration system which prioritizes immigrants who contribute to the U.S. over a family based system, a new Harvard-Harris poll finds.

The broad based U.S. representative poll found that 84 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that immigration policy in the U.S. “should be based on a person’s ability to contribute to America”. Only 16 percent agreed with the statement that it “Should be based on a person having relatives in the U.S.”

The lowest support for a merit-based immigration system was 69 percent among African-Americans and 75 percent held among self identified “Democrats” and “liberals.” Eighty-three percent of Hispanic respondents agreed with the statement posed.

The high muckety mucks in the Democratic Party and their special interest groups might be railing against a merit based system, but when 75% of self identified Democrats/Liberals agree with such a system, that’s pretty big. Why would we want to take in people who have few skills, do not speak the language, won’t assimilate, will go and live in their insular neighborhoods, and also demand that the U.S. change to accommodate the immigrant, all while having to be supported by the government and wanting to bring in more family members who will also not speak the language, won’t assimilate, etc and so on?

Of course, that is a double edged sword, since this would mean people coming in who would take American jobs. But, it also means that these are people who WANT to be Americans, rather than just bringing in large groups of people with low to no skills who have to be supported by the government. Realistically, we should do what has been done many times previously, and significantly limit legal immigration for a few decades in order to allow all those here now to assimilate.