This bill defies common sense, and it’s hard to imagine it getting traction even in the Republican caucus, Zeeshan Aleem writes.
The people least likely to be hindered by extra paperwork or having to move around a big chunk of money would be elites., this policy would require many"coming on most nonimmigrant visas — including tourists, students, business visitors, religious workers, air and marine crew workers, and more” to pay at least $5,000 every time they want to enter the country.
Such a policy would take a wrecking ball to America’s economic and cultural life. Requiring tourists, students and businesspeople to scrounge up thousands of dollars to visit the U.S. even briefly would lock out huge swaths of visitors because the cost would be prohibitive. The U.S.
It’s not just that business meetings would relocate and tourism would decline, it would also reshape shipping, logistics and aviation. “Imagine the outcry among airlines and shipping companies if they have to pony up tens of thousands of dollars of cash every time a crew member” entered, said Reichlin-Melnick. “You’d see airlines pulling out of the U.S. market, and more.”The people least likely to be hindered by extra paperwork or having to move around a big chunk of money would be elites.
This bill defies common sense, and it’s hard to imagine it getting traction even in the Republican caucus. As beholden as the party is to nationalist rhetoric, its members still have a general understanding that U.S. openness to legal immigration is crucial to its pre-eminent global status. But the bill is still a useful document in its distillation of the values of the hardcore MAGA caucus. Taken as more of a fantasy bill than a practical one, what it says is that ideally America would be far more isolated and cut off from the world, with the exception of a narrow band of elites. Their vision of greatness sounds awfully backward to me.
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