‘Merit-based’ immigration will make America poor again

If Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, David Perdue, R-Georgia, and Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, get their way, U.S. immigration rates will be sliced in half. They recently resurrected the RAISE Act, a bill instituting severe restrictions on both family sponsorship and refugee admissions. This law would move the United States toward a points-based immigration system, giving preference to immigrants with high-salary job offers, advanced degrees, and other attributes believed to constitute “merit.&rdq