Immigration Hawk: First 100 Days Are ‘Positive Start’ to Reform

As President Donald Trump’s presidency finishes its first 100 days in office, immigration hawks are grading the administration on its efforts to reform the immigration system and stop illegal border crossings.

President of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) Dan Stein said in a statement that Trump’s efforts on tackling immigration are a “positive start” to broader reforms that he expects in the future.

“The first hundred days have been a positive start but the administration, with the full participation and cooperation (of) Congress, must maintain that momentum and deliver on the president’s campaign promise to make our nation’s immigration policies ones the American people can be proud of and confident that their interests are being protected,” Stein said.

Importantly, Stein said, was the Trump administration’s break from all previous administrations where immigration was viewed through the lens of foreigners seeking a place in the U.S., rather than viewing immigration in the national interest of the American people.

In FAIR’s news release analyzing the Trump administration’s first 100 days on immigration, the organization noted Trump’s successes thus far, including the improvement of border security, as well as the decline of illegal immigrants entering the U.S.

Though the GOP’s budget to continue funding the federal government does not include funding for border walls, Trump did issue an Executive Order directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to move forward with construction of walls along the border.

Coupled with enforcement is the long backlog within U.S. immigration courts. Thanks to President Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, immigration courts are pushing for the deportation of criminal aliens, prior deportees, and those with orders of removals, while moving immigration judges to detention centers to further speed up the process of removing aliens in custody, as Breitbart Texas reported.

Additionally, Trump most recently signed an Executive Order calling for a “full legal review” of the H-1B visa system, which gives 85,000 U.S. jobs every year to foreigners instead of American workers, a move that brought him praise from experts, as Breitbart Texas reported.

Even Trump’s budget addressed immigration issues that Congress has yet to touch. For instance, Trump’s proposed budget would provide the funding for a federal, mandatory E-Verify system, where employers must verify that their workers are legal residents of the U.S. before hiring them.

Stein said the Trump Administration must move the GOP-led Congress forward on immigration issues.

“During the next hundred days and beyond, we expect the Trump administration to push Congress to do its job to reform U.S. immigration policies and ensure that our laws are effectively enforced,” Stein said.

“Important steps that the administration and Congress must address this year are properly funding DHS so that more ICE and BP agents can be hired and more detention space created, implementing mandatory E-Verify for all employers to protect American workers and further discourage illegal immigration, and fully implementing the biometric entry/exit system to address the growing number of illegal aliens who overstay visas,” Stein concluded.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.