Remember the travel cases? At issue was whether Trump had the power to issue his Proclamation suspending the entry of aliens from several Muslim-majority countries. The Supreme Court held that he did have that power – a federal law clearly gave him authority to suspend the entry of any class of aliens, or even all aliens, into the country if he deemed doing so in the “national interest.” At most, Trump would need a rational basis for his restrictions – but the Court didn’t even find (as opposed to assume for the sake of argument) that he needed that.
Sit quietly for a while and let that sink in. All by himself, Trump can bar any group of aliens he wants from entering the country, as long as he rationally believes that doing so is in the national interest. He can bar all those who lack a certain level of skills, or education, to protect the jobs and wages of the most vulnerable Americans. He can bar all those who do not have a job lined up in this country that cannot be filled by an American. He can bar all those likely to receive public assistance (in fact, he is already doing that, not by proclamation, but by regulation).
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