Republican Senators, Tom Cotton from Arkansas and David Perdue from Georgia has introduced a drastic new immigration bill, that will reduce the number of Green Cards issued annually from 1 million to 500,000, by doing away with the Diversity Visa Lottery and sponsorship for Green Card for siblings and parents of US citizens.
“Donald Trump was the only one who saw that most Americans don’t like our current immigration system,” Cotton said. “This is just the area of politics where I think leaders and elites are most disconnected from the people. Not just Republicans but in both parties, in business, in the media, in the academy, culture and so forth.”
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Cotton dismissed the research that shows about the economic boon of immigrants, including low-skilled workers, by paraphrasing George Orwell: “Only an intellectual could believe something so stupid.”
All told, the number of legal immigrants allowed into the United States under the bill, named the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act would plummet by 40 percent in the first year and by 50 percent over a decade.
“There are obviously abuses of the H-1B visa program. I think those abuses need to be addressed before we even consider expanding the program,” Cotton said.
“That said, if the evidence demonstrates that say, software companies need PhDs with computer science degrees and they’re going to pay them a wage that’s in the top 1, top 5, top 10 percent of local wages, I’m open to that kind of evidence.”
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Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire, called the legislation “senseless” and a “job killer.” “This legislation sends a terrible message to the rest of the world and is unquestionably a job killer,” she said. “As a nation of immigrants, this bill runs counter to our values.”
Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, expected later this week to be confirmed as U.S. attorney general, was a leading Capitol Hill voice in the effort to curb legal immigration to protect American workers.
“For several decades, immigrants no longer have been limited to bringing in a spouse and minor children. Chain Migration categories allow each immigrant (once a citizen) to petition for adult brothers and sisters, for adult sons and daughters and for parents. Each of them can in turn do the same along with bringing their own spouses who can start whole new chains in their own families and so forth in a never-ending pattern. Sen. Cotton would stop all of that immigration which adds millions of workers each decade without any regard to their skills or how they would affect Americans competing in the same occupations,” it said.
The key elements of the bill are as follows:
- Eliminate Outdated Diversity Visa Lottery: The RAISE Act would eliminate the 50,000 visas arbitrarily allocated to this lottery.
- Place Responsible Limit on Permanent Residency for Refugees: The RAISE Act would limit refugees offered permanent residency to 50,000 per year, in line with a 13-year average.
- Prioritize Immediate Family Households. The RAISE Act would retain immigration preferences for the spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
Eliminated would be green card categories for foreign citizens:
- Adult parents of U.S. citizens
- Adult brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens
- Unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
- Married adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
- Unmarried adult sons and daughters of legal permanent residents
By Premji
