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Trump recites “Snake” poem to describe immigrants, announces more stringent H-1B visa norms

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The US President Donald Trump, has once more reiterated his agenda on restricting immigration. Speaking recently to a Conservative audience, he recited the lyrics of a song called, “The Snake” to drive home his point on immigrants – a move that goes back to his campaign promises on anti-immigration.

In a speech to conservatives at a convention outside Washington, he also bashed opposition Democrats for failing to back his proposal for putting 1.8 million so-called “Dreamer” immigrants on a pathway to citizenship in exchange for tightening border security and severely restricting legal immigration.

During his hour-long address, Trump pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and read “The Snake,” a ballad by Al Wilson about a reptile who repays a “tender woman” that nurses it back to health with a deadly bite.

During his campaign, as well as in a speech early in his presidency, Trump had used the song, based on one of the Aesop’s fables, as a less-than-subtle allegory about immigrants entering the United States.

This time he made no secret about the comparison he was making.

“Think of it in terms of immigration,” he urged attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as he launched into the song.

“You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in,” he said, reading the final line of the song, before returning to his speech.

“And that’s what we’re doing with our country, folks – we’re letting people in, and it’s going to be a lot of people. It’s only going to be worse,” he wrapped-up.

Some mainstream Republicans have recoiled at Trump’s continued recitation of the lyrics.

“Trump’s snake story is vicious, disgraceful, utterly racist and profoundly un-American,” tweeted Steve Schmidt, a former campaign aide for president George W Bush.

In his wide-ranging speech, Trump warned that efforts to reach a deal on the status of undocumented migrants brought to the US illegally as children could fail – and blamed his opponents.

In his speech to the Conservatives at a convention outside Washington, he also bashed opposition Democrats for failing to back his proposal for putting 1.8 million so-called “Dreamer” immigrants on a pathway to citizenship in exchange for tightening border security and severely restricting legal immigration.

“The Democrats are being totally unresponsive. They don’t want to do anything about DACA, I’m telling you,” he said, referring to negotiations on Capitol Hill on replacing an expiring program that defers deportation for some undocumented migrants.

“It’s very possible that DACA won’t happen.”

Former president Barack Obama launched the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, whose recipients were given legal permission to work, live and go to school in the United States.

Last September, Trump announced he was rescinding DACA and called on Congress to craft a solution before March 5, setting off months of bipartisan negotiations.

The Senate held votes on several DACA-related bills last week, but none of them advanced.

Many conservatives in Congress including Senator Ted Cruz have been outspoken in their opposition to any legislation that provides “amnesty” to people who are in the United States illegally.

Earlier, the Trump Administration also announced a new measure, making the approval of H-1B visa tougher, in a move that is likely to hit various Indian firms in the United States.

As per the new policy, any company will have to make one more clarification to prove that its H-1B employee at a third-party worksite has specific and non-qualifying speculative assignments in a specialty occupation.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a policy memorandum saying it may request detailed documentation to ensure that a legitimate employer-employee relationship is maintained while an employee is working at a third-party worksite.

“When H-1B beneficiaries are placed at third-party worksites, petitioners must demonstrate that they have specific and non-speculative qualifying assignments in a specialty occupation for that beneficiary for the entire time requested on the petition,” the USCIS said in a statement.

“While an H-1B petition may be approved for up to three years, the USCIS will, in its discretion, generally limit the approval period to the length of time demonstrated that the beneficiary will be placed in non-speculative work and during which the petitioner will maintain the requisite employer-employee relationship,” it added.

The updated policy is a part of Trump’s “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order, which directs to protect the interests of US workers.

According to the US administration officials, the scrutiny is needed to ensure the integrity of the controversial visa program, which according to critics has cost American jobs.

The H-1B visa allows US employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.

The Indians are the main beneficiaries of the H1-B visas, although there are no national quotas for the facility nor is it specifically designed for Indians.

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