White House press secretary Sarah Sanders pushed back strongly against accusations that the president's merit-based immigration policy is racist at Tuesday's press briefing, saying: "By definition a merit-based system is color blind. It is not based on any of that criteria. It is not based on race, it is not based on religion, it is not based on country of origin. It is actually based on the merits of whether or not this person will be contributing to society."



"No, it is not" about race, she said. "It actually levels the playing field and is the opposite of what you are suggesting."





QUESTION: Just picking up on that. Does a Good Deal include preferring white immigrants from Norway than black and brown immigrants from Haiti?







SARAH SANDERS" Not at all of, it is the opposite. By definition a merit-based system is color blind. It is not based on any of that criteria. It is not based on race, it is not based on religion, it is not based on country of origin. It is actually based on the merits of whether or not this person will be contributing to society.



So it erases all of those things and makes it a much more fair system.



Instead of picking and choosing, trying to meet different quotas of different countries, it is a merit-based system, and frankly it is a system that most Democrats supported and voted for just years ago.



But now this president is championing it, they are I think showing just absolute signs and definitions of what hypocrisy looks like. The bottom line is we want a deal on DACA. They want a deal on DACA We want a deal on border security. They want a deal on border security. They said they support these things. They've also said they support merit-based immigration. I don't see what is complicated here. We all want the same things.



Democrats need to quit playing politics and start doing what they were elected to do, and that is governing. They need to come to the I believe it was a real deal based on the parameters tha were discussed in the meeting that you saw, and let us try to get something done for the American people.



QUESTION: But he did mention country of origin. The fact of the mater is, the countries that he mentioned, one is very white and the others are very not white. That's about race, is it not?



SANDERS: No, it is not. The president has laid out what he wants to see in an immigration process. That is a merit-based system. You cannot argue with the priority that he has laid out, and what that looks like and how it levels the playing field and is the opposite of what you're suggesting.