Speech #1100052880

Yet now we are told that parents are no longer immediate relatives and subject to caps. That parents no longer fit in the same category of relatives as minor children and spouses. an idea that millions of Americans would disagree with. We are told that we must weaken that principle. thus disrupting the lives of countless lawabiding families. in the name of reducing "chain migration." Well. that is a red herring. The truth is that once parents of citizens obtain immigrant visas. they usually complete the family unit and are unlikely to sponsor others. That is why today we must do justice to the families of our fellow citizens who seek nothing more than to keep their families intact. This amendment does just that. First. it increases the new green card cap from 40.000 to 90.000. Ninety thousand is the average number of green cards issued each year to parents who as I mentioned have to date been exempt from caps. Again this is just an average. Last year the number was 120.000. It is abundantly clear that 40.000 green cards per year is an unreasonably low number. One of the goals of this bill is to clear the backlog on immigrant visa applicants which in some cases extends as far back as 22 years. If we dont allot sufficient numbers of green cards for parents in this bill. we risk creating a whole new category of backlog. Ninety thousand would meet this need. To those who still think 90.000 is too high a number.