Rubio: ‘We Need to Move to a Merit Based System of Immigration’

RUBIO: "I would add when you talk about the millions of green cards coming in, those aren’t workers at all. They are just coming in primarily based family connection. My parents came in 1956. I acknowledge that my parents came to the U.S. On a family-based system. The problem is nothing looks like it did 60 years ago. The 21st century economy is not creating enough jobs for people that don’t have skills. When my parents came, they had a very limited education. My father stopped going to school when he was 9 years old because his mother died and he had to work. He’d work the next 70 years of his life and never go back to school. I’m grateful every day that America welcomed them. But today in the 21st century, 60 years later, finding jobs when you don’t have skills is very important. We need to move to a merit based system of immigration. Particularly on green cards. The primary criteria for bringing someone from abroad should be, what skills do you have? What business are you going to open? What investment are you going to make? What job are you going to be able to do when you arrive in the United States?"