The Press Enterprise: Mark Takano critical of proposed immigration change
One of the eight senators putting together a comprehensive immigration reform bill said he favors making it much more difficult for relatives of U.S. citizens to obtain green cards.
“Green cards should be reserved for the nuclear family. Green cards are economic engines for the country,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican. “This is not a family court we’re dealing with here. We’re dealing about an economic need.”
Immigrant-rights advocates quickly criticized the proposal, saying it would break families apart.
Republicans generally favor shifting immigration policies to focus on admitting more high-skilled workers, regardless of family links.
Graham’s statement is significant, because he and the other seven Republican and Democratic senators are fashioning a bill that likely will contain the principles that Congress will vote on in the coming weeks.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, said the senators hope to come to an agreement on the main points in immigration reform by the end of next week and put legislation before the Senate Judiciary Committee next month.
Imposing more restrictions on the immigration of relatives of citizens would be a major shift from current immigration policy.
Currently, nearly two-thirds of people approved for legal immigration are admitted for family reasons, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Only 14 percent are approved for job-related reasons.
The changes the eight senators are looking at would no longer allow people to immigrate because they have siblings who are citizens or because they are the married adult children of citizens.
Rep. Mark Takano, a Riverside Democrat, was one of 24 members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus who signed a letter critical of the proposed change.
Takano also released his own statement: “With over 1.8 million Asian or Pacific Islanders in line for immigration visas, fixing our broken system is a top priority within the Asian community, as many of those waiting are members of our own family. To keep these families together, we must retain the ability for U.S. citizens to sponsor their brothers and sisters and married adult children for legal permanent residence. Let us commit ourselves to ensuring that our immigration system fixes are family centered, as family units have long played an integral role in our nation’s growth.”
Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also criticized the plan.
“What the senator’s not taking into account is the social costs for not preserving families in the immigration system, which is not as tangible or measurable as an economic benefit, maybe, but immigrant families do strengthen our social fabric,” Appleby told The Associated Press.
Appleby urged the senators to increase the number of total visas, rather than reduce the number of green cards for relatives of citizens in favor of job-related visas.