[ti:Trump’s Immigration Plan Values Skills, Education over Family Ties] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]American President Donald Trump has offered a proposal [00:05.09]to reform the country's immigration system. [00:09.15]Trump says the proposal aims to create a, in his words, [00:15.76]"fair, modern and lawful system of immigration for the United States." [00:22.82]He spoke at the White House on Thursday. [00:27.32]The plan would involve new actions to improve border security [00:33.68]and a rethinking of the nation's Green Card system. [00:38.53]Those changes are designed to help non-citizens with high-level education, [00:45.95]skills and job offers instead of relatives of those already living in the United States. [00:55.85]A green card is required for all foreigners [01:00.23]interested in becoming permanent residents of the United States. [01:05.74]Trump's proposal would keep the number of non-citizens [01:10.84]approved for green cards each year at around 1.1 million. [01:17.83]But the plan is a major change from the current immigration system, [01:23.94]which has been largely based on family connections. [01:29.14]Under the plan, 57% of green cards would be given to people with skills or offers of employment. [01:39.66]Only 33% would go to individuals with family ties to individuals already living in the U.S. [01:50.83]American immigration officials estimated that currently [01:56.28]about 66% of all green cards are given to those with family ties, [02:04.49]while only 12% are based on skills. [02:09.03]Before Trump's announcement, U.S. officials said [02:13.50]the plan would create a visa system based on points, [02:18.53]similar to systems used by Canada and other countries. [02:23.84]Many more green cards would go to top college students [02:29.13]so they can stay in the U.S. after completing their degree programs. [02:35.34]There would also be more green cards given to professional workers [02:40.93]and people with high-level degrees and occupational training. [02:46.45]Officials would also consider a person's age, English language ability and employments offers. [02:56.20]The plan would reduce the numbers of visas the government sets aside for refugees. [03:03.96]It also would end the government's diversity visa lottery program. [03:10.47]Under that program, green cards are given to citizens of countries [03:16.56]with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. [03:22.44]Efforts to reform the U.S. immigration system have failed for almost 30 years. [03:30.21]And Trump's proposal will face opposition from lawmakers, [03:35.39]including members of his own Republican Party. [03:40.41]The Democratic Party wants a plan to deal with [03:44.48]the millions of immigrants already living in the country without a visa. [03:50.78]They include hundreds of thousands of young people [03:55.48]brought to the U.S. illegally as children. [03:59.83]And Republicans want to reduce overall rates of immigration. [04:06.47]Lisa Koop is director of legal services at the National Immigrant Justice Center. [04:14.67]She criticized parts of the Trump proposal. [04:19.36]"A plan that forces families apart, limits access to asylum and other humanitarian relief, [04:28.64]and doesn't contemplate a path to citizenship for DACA recipients [04:34.63]and other undocumented community members is clearly a political stunt [04:41.38]intended to posture rather than problem-solve," Koop said. [04:48.09]DACA is short for the term Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. [04:55.32]It is a policy that protects young people brought to the U.S. illegally [05:00.92]as children from being sent back to their homeland. [05:06.68]Trump has worked to end the DACA program, [05:09.84]and efforts to reach a compromise on DACA collapsed last year. [05:16.72]Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said of Trump's latest proposal, [05:22.92]"It's not going to happen." [05:26.52]Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is a Republican and a close ally of Trump. [05:33.78]Graham said of the plan, "I don't think it's designed to get Democratic support [05:40.16]as much as it is to unify the Republican Party around border security, [05:46.96]a negotiating position." [05:50.00]The plan, U.S. officials say, would increase inspection at ports of entry, [05:56.28]build a border wall in some areas, [05:59.52]and aim to reduce the number of people seeking asylum at the border. [06:05.80]Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, [06:12.48]an organization that calls for lower immigration rates. [06:17.32]He praised what he called a "very positive effort" on legal immigration, [06:24.92]but said it was "undermined by the embrace of the current [06:30.32]very high level of immigration." [06:33.65]I'm Caty Weaver. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM