Ata cabinet meeting on Wednesday December 20, Trump announced the end of chainmigration and the diversity visa lottery program. Chain migration is when immigrantscan come into the United States because of a family member that is already alegal resident or citizen.
Chain migration became the driving force forimmigration to the U.S in 1965, which led to the current version of theImmigration and Nationality Act. The 1965 legislation changed the objective ofU.S. immigration policy.
Rather than bringing immigrants who were likely toassimilate to our culture and do well here, American immigration policy shiftedits focus to an extremely broad concept of “family reunification.” This placedthe integrity of immigrant families above the economic, national security, andpublic safety interests of the American public. because of this, the groups ofimmigrants eligible to come to the United States has became largelyself-selecting. The diversity visa lottery gives greencards at random to people who live in countries with low rates of immigrationto the U.S. Sayfullo Saipov the terrorist that drove a rented home depottruck through a crowd killing eight people came to the U.S in chain migration.
Also Akayed Ullah the terrorist that set off the pipe bomb in a New York subwaybecause of the “offensive” Christmas decorations also came to the U.S throughchain migration after his aunt was selected by the lottery system. At themeeting Trump said “We don’t want this group of people anymore, when wetake people in a lottery, they’re not putting their best people in the lottery.It’s common sense.” He said that in some cases we probably get the worstpeople. Also Sayfullo Saipov may have brought in as many as 24 peopleindirectly or directly. “Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandfathers,grandmothers, and they come in because one guy gets in. Then you bring thewhole family,” Trump said.
I agree with Trump that we should end chainmigration and the lottery system. In my last current event I said that I didn’tbelieve that extreme vetting would help protects us from Muslims who becameextremist in America, but now I realize that there is something we can do. Theproblem that I fear is that there’s always going to be that one crazy guy inthe family who hates America. With chain migration when one guy gets in, thewhole family can come, I think two things we need to consider is… where do weend the line of family members, and also what about other people coming fromplaces like Europe or Mexico. I feel that after we terminate chain migration,than we can work on making a better version, maybe a version where chainmigration isn’t aloud in countries on the watch list, the same list of placeson the travel band.
I think this way we can make sure that innocent people cancome to the U.S and that our safety is not compromised. Because of chainmigration, 5 million people have randomly been able to come to the U.S. Anotherstatistic shows that 70% percent of immigration to the U.S is from chainmigration.
As for the visa lottery, I think that it’s not the brightest idea havethe mindset… “I have 50,000 green cards, I’m going to give them away at random.”I think that we should totally get rid of the lottery system. 51% of immigrantfamilies (legal or illegal) live on some sort of government welfare assistance,all that money a huge strain of our resources.
Today with our 21 trilliondollars worth of debt, there needs to be a beginning and end to the financialsupport and a strategy on ho we enable immigrants to assimilate and achievefinancial support. I don’t think it’s cruel to have a time limit for how long youcan stay in The U.S receiving welfare because when all of our ancestors came tothe U.S, the only thing they had was a good work ethic and a dream for a betterlife. I realize that the immigrants may be fleeing from violence, but when theycome to the U.S in search of a better life, we shouldn’t have to change ourtraditions or our values for them because we are welcoming them to our home sothey need to assimilate.
Senators Tom Cotton,R-Ark., and David Perdue, R-Ga., are sponsoring the RAISE Act. The bill wouldcreate a point system to better evaluate potential immigrants from factors suchas age, education, professional skills and English proficiency. We also need tobe able to see that the immigrant loves our country and loves our constitution,and our values that we as Americans believe in.
