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Trump’s new visa policy part of his racist ideology: Analyst

Thursday, 20 April 2017 8:27 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 20 April 2017 9:21 AM ]

Myles Hoenig

US President Donald Trump’s new executive order meant to change a visa program for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the US is rooted in Trump’s "racist ideology," according to a Green Party politician in Baltimore, Maryland.

“There is an economic argument for restricting visas in order to promote American job seekers over immigrants but regardless, this move by President Trump is clearly part of his racist ‘America-First’ ideology,” said Myles Hoeing, who is running from Congress as a Green Party candidate from Maryland’s seventh district.

“Whether it be banning Muslims or promoting hate speech during his campaign against people of color, as well as hiring white supremacists for his administration, he is clearly showing that his views on this has not and likely will not change,” Hoeing told Press TV on Tuesday.

“As a leader in the birther movement Trump has been very consistent in showing the side of him that this side of America tries to keep under wraps,” he added. “The US likes to promote its inclusiveness but rarely does a good job of it.”

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Trump signs order to carry out campaign pledge

On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order on the H-1B visa program aimed at fulfilling his "America First" campaign promises.

He signed the so-called Buy American, Hire American order on a visit to a tool factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The order was vague on many fronts, and did not change existing rules, but one objective is to modify or replace the current lottery for H-1B visas with a merit-based system that would restrict the visas to highly skilled workers.

Ironically, Trump's wife Melania used an H-1B visa to immigrate to the US in 1996 and work as a model in New York City.

“There are these two ways of looking at President Trump’s H-1B visa policy. One is the outright racism of denying non-Americans an opportunity to be engaged in a field for which they are most qualified and the other is to raise salaries, even though there aren’t enough jobs to actually go around, and keeping the wages low,” Hoeing said.

Voicing immediate reservations about the decree, the US Chamber of Commerce, however, warned the Trump administration not to do away with the whole H-1B scheme, also acknowledging that there was room for improving the program.

The latest executive order comes at a time when the businessman-turned-politician is nearing his 100th day in office, looking to regain momentum on the domestic front after his flagship travel ban was blocked in court and his vaunted health reform foundered in Congress.

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