Ten Irrational and Infuriating Aspects of U.S. Legal Immigration

One fortunate aspect ofPresident Trump ’s bill to reduce legal immigration by 50 percent is that it has started the conversation on how to reform the nation ’s legal immigration system—even if it started it on the wrong foot. Members of Congress now have an opportunity to respond with legislation that would increase legal immigration and fix the various problems with the system, which are numerous.1) Employment-based quotas haven ’t changedsince 1990, even as the economydoubled in size. Unlike many other countries, the legislative branch establishes hard ceilings on immigration, rather than flexible targets or administratively determined limits. In 1990, Congresspassed the Immigration Act of 1990, which established the current limit at 140,000 visas for immigrants whom employers sponsor for legal permanent residency. Since then, U.S. real Gross Domestic Productincreased from 8.9 trillion to 17 trillion. At the same time, the computer and Internet revolutions transformed the economy, yet the quota remained the same.Congress should double the 1990 employment-based quota to at least 280,000 and index the quota to GDP growth. Senators Ron Johnson and John McCain incorporate GDP indexing in their State-Sponsored Pilot Program Act, which would allow states to sponsor temporary workers (see p. 24).2) Half the quota for immigrantworkersis filled by family. Of the 140,000 employer-sponsored visas, sponsored employees actually useless than half. That ’s because the George H.W...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs