INTERVIEW — MARK KRIKORIAN – Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)

• PREVIEW: Trump’s new immigration plan emphasizes skills and education over family connections. (CNBC) – President Donald Trump will unveil a sweeping new proposal Thursday designed to move the United States from a family based immigration system to what senior administration officials describe as an employment- and skill-based system. The proposal includes two parts – a physical infrastructure component that would include border wall construction and be financed by new fees on trade collected at the border, and a revamped points system for those applying for U.S. citizenship. Briefing reporters in the Roosevelt Room ahead of the president’s announcement Thursday, senior administration officials described a system for new arrivals that they said would be more fair and clear and also would significantly shift the population receiving American citizenship toward a much more highly educated, higher-income group. “We want to change the composition of who is coming through,” a senior administration official said. The plan is designed to give Republicans a positive proposal they can pitch on the campaign trail and in negotiations with Democrats, although Trump officials acknowledge that it is not likely to become law as is. Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, pitched the plan to Republican senators behind closed doors Tuesday on Capitol Hill.