Of socalled dreamers, which those two issues basically make it a nonstarter for democrats. It also fails to address the overall level of immigration into the country, which is a major goal for conservatives and antiimmigration groups. We come up with a policy like this, make no mistake about it, its cruel and inhumane, but it also hurts our economy significantly. And if you dont believe me, talk to business leaders. I think you might get all republicans, at least most of us, but you dont address the 11 million. I cant imagine any solution to our immigration problems that doesnt deal with 11 million. Heres what the proposal does do. It mandates checks like a Health Screening and background check. It would also install a civics test. Then each individual would receive points based on age. The younger you are, the more points you get, english proficiency, offers of employment and education levels. It also upends the familybased migration system that allows immigrants to bring their spouses and children with them. The expected failure of this proposal did not stop President Trump from touting the plan. Immigrant and proworker. Its just common sense. It will help all of our people, including millions of devoted immigrants to achieve the american dream. All right. Joining me from the white house, nbc chief white house correspondent, hallie jackson. Hallie, lets just explain why i just dont want people think im opining on this. There are real reasons why this proposal is considered doomed on capitol hill. Reporter yeah, thats very fair, ali, thats something weve been reporting out for the last day or so, too. And heres why. Democrats have said theyre not onboard with this, and without democratic support, its not ali, its notable thats something you heard the president himself acknowledge. The president said, if the democrats dont get onboard, hey, well bring this up again after the 2020 election. He says, when we win back the house, well have the senate, well have the white house. Very political talk here, ali. Clearly some political rhetoric to fire up republicans and that is the explicit intention of this plan, this proposal. When i speak with Senior Administration officials, they say, this is intended to unite the gop to talk about what we are for, rather than what we are against, and describing it as a bit of a starting point. Heres how the president encapsulated that in his speech just moments ago. Our plan achieves two critical goals. First, it stops ilLegal Immigration and fully secures the border. And second, it establishes a new Legal Immigration system that protects american wages, promotes american values, and attracts the best and brightest from all around the world. Reporter and you heard the president there lay out the sort of two prongs of thiS Immigration proposal. The more meaty prong, if you will, is the one that is shifting to a meritbased system. As you explained, that would prior ties educated and highskilled workers. That is another reason, in part, why democrats are opposed to this. Its not just because this plan does not address the 11 Million People living in this country already illegally. Its not because this plan does not address socalled draereame people protected under daca. Its also because this plan talks about merit. And you heard Speaker Pelosi question this concept of merit, calling ate condescending word, and asking rather rhetorically, does this mean you have to have an engineering degree to come to this country and nobody else has merit . There are some real fundamental problems why democrats will have problems with this. I have to say, ali, while this is largely a political document that the president is presenting here, this was not a rally. This was not a make america againtype fiery speech from President Trump. This was fairly subdued from the president , the crowd was fairly subdued for most of the speech, save for the last little bit when, as i mentioned, they jumped to their feet on the discussion of the political potential ramifications of this. The president is trying to focus on immigration, turned back to that conversation. It is something that we know his base responds to, ali. He knows it. And thats the conversation. Hallie, thank you, as always. Hallie jackson for us at the white house. I want to continue what hallie was talking about, at the heart of what donald trump is proposing is the creation of a meritbased immigration system. The white house released estimates showing that right now, 12 of people obtained green cards and citizenship based on employment and skill. The plan is to increase that to 57 . Right now, 66 of people enter based on family connections. The plan is to reduce that to 33 . Its all part of the administrations plan to create what they call or what donald trump calls the build america visa, recognizing three categories. Extraordinary talent, professional and specialized vocations, and exceptional students. Essentially, this system would favor implicates who speak english and are well educated. The president has praised the immigration systems of canada and australia, which use a points system to prioritize skilled immigrants, but according to the nonpartisan publication, econofact, no country admits immigrants exclusively through this system. For example, canada also admits immigrants on the basis of family ties and this part is going to be important in a minute, for humanitarian reasons. And there is some evidence that immigrants selected on the points system perform less well in the labor market than one would expect. Joining me to analyze those statements is the woman who analyzed this meritbased systems. Jennifer hunch, shes a professor of economics at Rutgers University. Jennifer, thank you for being with us. Its a pleasure to be here. It seems obvious to us that meritbased systems are good. You are trying to attract the people who are going to be the most complete economic participants in the system. Whats the criticism of it . Well, it is good to have skilled immigrants. All immigrants, in fact, contribute to the economy of the u. S. And skilled immigrants, particularly, also contribute more in taxes than some other residents of the country do. They contribute by innovating and patenting and contributing to growth. But whats less obvious is that medium and even the leastskilled immigrants also contribute to the u. S. Economy. The way to think about this the best is that when immigrants are different from native workers, they come in and they do Different Things from natives. And they allow everyone to specialize more in what theyre doing best. And that increases the efficiency of the economy, more output for everyone, increases output, gdp per capita for natives and benefits, of course, the immigrants, as well. Its that contribution of the unskilled immigrants that i think people overlook when they really push the socalled meritbased or as its called the other countries, the point system. So he compares it to canada. Theres a valid piece of information here when it comes to humanitarianbased immigration. I want to point to refugees in particular. In 2017, the United States took in 33,000 refugees. Canada, which is 1 10th the size, took in 44,000 refugees. So, there is another side to this, when comparing it to canada, but what part of the comparison makes sense . In other words welcome in your opinion, has it worked for canada and australia in a way that it can work for the United States . I can say its worked in one way, in that immigration to australia, for example, is about double the u. S. Rate. And although there are some grumbling slightly at the moment, immigration in canada and australia at similar levels are fairly popular in those countries. Perhaps more popular than immigration seems to be in the u. S. At the moment, even though as i said, with its about half the level. So it seems that admitting skilled immigrants are more accepted by the native born. But, what you find in canada, for example, at least the analysis of data before a recent reform of the canadian system is that although most of the people who are admitted are college graduates, that they earn wages Like High School graduates actually in the labor market. And for example, its actually been found that unlike in the u. S. , that canadian immigrants dont actually disproportionately innovate and patent. And i think that the reason was until this recent reform, a much lower role in employers in choosing the immigrants from canada. In the u. S. , theres a very big role which will be reduced by this proposal and its really employers who know who will be the best workers. One of the things we often talk about is these hb1 visas that employers use to get in particular in the United States, engineers, for instance. And one of the criticisms of the Current System in the United States is that those skilled workers are chosen differently than people who get green cards. Well, one thing that one should discuss with the president s plan is if you have a solution, what problem is it actually trying to address . Now, actually, one of the problems that exists is that the number of these temporary visas is chosen completely independently of the number of employment based green cards. So theres actually a big backlog of people, skilled people with the temporary visas who are trying to get a green card and cant because they not available. Which would argue that thats not the problem we need to solve. We need to, in fact, just figure out how to get those skilled employees that are on a backlog into the United States. That would be what i would do. And you can increase the number of skilled workers admitted to the u. S. Without a huge revamp of the system. The one thing you could expand or tweet, the h1b system and remember theres a temporary visa specifically for experienced, very skilled workers. Theres also a particular type of employment baed visa for the very top people. You could tweak those things. But getting those things to balance is one of the things that needs to be addressed that will be interesting if the details come out about this plan and whether it would address this. As more details come out, we will be leaning on you to help us interpret them. Jennifer hunt is a professor of economics at Rutgers University and her Current Research focuses on immigration and wage inequality. Now to an nbc nbc news exclusive. While the administration is unveiling the immigration plan, Patrick Shanahan is expected to sign a request for the military to build tents at six locations along the border to house 7,500 detained migrants. As for those who will be overseeing operations at these facilities, deft Department SpokesmanChris Mitchell released the following statement. Dod will not provide detention or custodial support for detained aliens at these i. C. E. Detention facilities. I. C. E. Is responsible for detention or custodial support. Abc news has confirmed a fourth Guatemalan Child has died since december since being detained. According to the guatemalan consulate, the 2yearold and his mother were detained around april 5th. Shortly after his apprehension, the young boy showed symptoms of illness, including a high fever and difficulty breathing. They took him to a Childrens Hospital where he was diagnosised with pneumonia. The Washington Post was the first to report his death, saying on april 8th, they released the family from Border Protection and custody with a notice to appear in immigration court. The child remained hospitalized in el paso, texas, for about a month before dying on tuesday. Joining me from el paso is msnbcs mariana atencio. Mariana, what do we know about this child . Reporter ali, when the news broke last night, i was able to independently confirm his passing with the consul of guatemala who oversees the el paso sector. This child was 2 years and 8 months old. His 23yearold mother is completely distraught. She says there has been no family statement, shes not ready to release photos or a name. This is clearly a family in mourning. And when you think about that horrifying stat that you mentioned, four children from guatemala who have passed away after being apprehended or held by cbp since december. Its a relative short span of time. It underscores the human toll of this administrationS Immigration policy here in el paso. And the consul of guatemala is actually in that country today and tells me that his message to families is to not bring their children over on this perilous journey and this idea of, if you bring your child, you will be guaranteed admission or asylum into the United States is simply not true. And also the fact that this child, like the other three children, ali, was held in these facilities that the mayor of el paso told me today were built for single men from mexico initially, not meant to house children, especially not toddlers. Ali . You have spoken to some humanitarian issues are unbelievable. Last week, a couple of weeks ago, Border Patrol here set up some softsided holding areas. Theyre paying 32 million for four months for that. The taxpayers of america need towns, its not just down here on the border, out of sight, out of mind for the majority of americans, it has Economic Impact across the board. Not the least of which, from my standpoint as mayor of el paso, theres an environmental issue when you take the cbp personnel off the bridges, because then the trucks are just sitting there, idling for hours. Reporter so a big admission. Besides everything that we heard from the mayor of el paso, ali, was the fact that dreamers and daca, as youve been mentioning, was not included in this bill. Remember, two years ago, this was the issue that had to be included in my immigration bill for it even to be considered. And i spoke to a local dreamer here who told me that they feel forgotten. Ali . Mariana, thank you so much for that. Mariana atencio in el paso, texas, for us. The president S Immigration remarks came hours after the release of his latest Financial Disclosure report. Nbcs hans nichols has been looking through the report and joins us now from the white house. Hans, what is this report, first of all, and what are the biggest things youve learned from it . This is the annual Financial Disclosure report. This isnt the tax returns. This gives you a snapshot of people in governments overall holdings in income. Its not terribly precise. Throughout the years, ive tried to get any hands on dozens of these. Sometimes with the president , they automatically file them through the department of ethics and put them out right away. You get the broad picture of how wealthy someone is, what their assets are and what their income is. And what weve learned from President Trump is some of his properties are doing a little bit better, some are doing a little bit worse. Not a whole lot of movement. The doral, the president got 76 million in 2018. At maralago, it was down slightly, 22 million, last year it was at 25 million. The total here at Trump International hotel, the income there is up to 40 million a year. Its up about a half a million, a little bit when you see the numbers there. There it shows it double. That really reflects when the hotel went into operation. Ill give you an example for why this isnt terribly precise. The president took out a mortgage, a 30year note on a piece of property, and the range was somewhere between 5 million and 15 million. My notes say between 5 million and 25 million, excuse me. That actual property, we believe, was his sisters property, which he bought in the range of 14 million. So these arent precise, but they do give you an example of where the president stands with some of his assets and the kind of income. And its basically showing, not a huge change from 2017. Ali . Hans nichols for us at the white house. Thank you, sir. Coming up, reports that President Trump doesnt want to go to war with iran and instead hopes to reach a diplomatic solution through talks with irans leaders. Were live in tehran with the latest after the break. Plus, the surge of republicanled states angling to take down roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court. You are watching msnbc. E court. You are watching msnbc whats going on . Its the 3pm slump. Should have had a p3. Oh yeah. Should have had a p3. Need energy . Get p3. With a mix of meat, cheese and nuts. The latest inisnt just a store. Ty its a save more with a new kind of Wireless Network store. Its a look what your wifi can do now store. A get your questions answered by awesome experts store. Its a now theres one store that connects your life like never before store. The xfinity store is here. And its simple, easy, awesome. Right now, Administration Officials are briefing top congressional leaders and the heads of the house and Senate Intelligence committees about the middle east, presumably about the threat from iran. That briefing comes hours after President Trump met with switzerlands president. The two leaders likely discussed iran as switzerland represents american interests there and has played the role of mediator in the past. Before the meeting, the president was asked about a potential conflict with iran. Mr. President , are we going to war with iran . I hope not. Moments ago, the New York Times reported that several Administration Officials told the newspaper that the president told act