Mr. Chairman. I rise In opposition to the amendment and in strong support of the reform of our legal immigration system contained in H.R. 2202. The bill would allow an average of 700.000 legal immigrants annually for the next 5 years. then 570.000 per year. This is comparable to the average number of legal immigrants coming to this country every year since the 1965 Immigration Act was enacted--600.000. This doesnt close Americas doors. What it does do is put more priority on immigrants with skills that American employers need. We will continue to accept the same number of employmentbased immigrants. It also puts more priority on admitting spouses and minor children of immigrants. thus reunifying nuclear families. The reduction in immigration is primarily in the area of adult relatives of immigrants. Under current law. these all get preference over immigrants with skills but no relatives already here. This misallocation of priorities will be changed by the bill. In most cases those grownup children dont continue to live with their parents. We just have to make a decision as to what is more important. reuniting 10 year olds with their parents. or 30 year olds? In some cases. a sibling will be brought to this country. go home and marry. thus reuniting a family that was never disunited. On the other hand. this amendment will increase legal immigration to the United States by 500.000 over 5 years. This is not what the American people want. This amendment will keep all that is wrong with our current legal immigration system. We need to make changes. Let us make them now.
Keywords matched
Immigration immigrants immigration