Senate Republicans Aim to Drastically Cut Legal Immigration

Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and David Perdue (R-GA) are introducing legislation today to significantly decrease the number of people eligible to receive green cards. The plan would cut legal immigration in half over the next 10 years.

Right now, U.S. citizens and permanent residents can sponsor a variety of family members, including spouses, parents, siblings and married adult children. Cotton and Perdue’s plan would allow only spouses and unmarried minor children to get green cards, although they would permit a modest number of visas for aging adult parents whose American children are their caretakers.

The bill also dumps the diversity visa lottery, which allots about 50,000 visas per year for citizens of countries that traditionally have low rates of immigration to the United States. And it would limit refugees to 50,000 annually — in line with levels outlined in Trump’s controversial executive order.

This legislation rejects the repeatedly proven reality that immigrants are a net positive on the nation's economy, creating new businesses at higher rates than native-born Americans and continually in demand by technology and science companies.

Source: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/immigration-trump-senate-cotton-234706