Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem boasted on Wednesday about a record-breaking number of foreigners gaining American citizenship.
President Donald Trump asserted on “The Ingraham Angle” Tuesday that the U.S. needs to bring in foreigners with skills that he claimed Americans lack. Noem said on “Fox and Friends” that the Trump administration would continue to utilize visa programs, while ensuring that applicants are properly vetted.
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“We’re going to keep using our visa programs. We’re just going to make sure that they have integrity, that we’re actually doing the vetting of the individuals who come into this country, that they want to be here for the right reasons, that they’re not supporters of terrorists and organizations that hate America,” Noem said. “And that’s what I think is so remarkable is under the Trump administration. We’ve sped up our process and added integrity to the visa programs, to green cards, to all of that.”
“But also, more people are becoming naturalized under this administration than ever before,” she added. “More people are becoming citizens because we’re not just streamlining and building some processes back into our immigration policies. We’re also making sure that these individuals that are coming into our country and get that privilege, that they actually are here for the right reasons.”
Trump told Ingraham that many foreigners are more experienced than Americans in skills like battery production. Trump faced backlash from several Republicans following his comments about H-1 b visas to Ingraham.
The president imposed a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applicants in September as some administration officials argued that they displaced the average American workers for lower wages.
The H-1B program is the primary pathway into the U.S. for highly-skilled foreign nationals, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. These visa holders can eventually become eligible to apply for legal permanent residence, which would enable them to stay in America indefinitely.
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