Obama Initiative Would Revisit Radical Changes to Immigration System in Five Years
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Printable FormatFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ben LaBolt
WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Barack Obama today delivered the following statement on the Senate floor on an amendment to the immigration reform bill he introduced with Senators Menendez and Feingold to sunset the points system to obtain citizenship after 5 years:
“I come to the floor tonight to speak about the new ‘points’ system created in this bill – a proposal that will radically change the way that we judge who is worthy of lawful entry into American society.”
“For decades, American citizens and legal permanent residents have been able to sponsor their family members for entry into our country. For decades, American businesses have been able to sponsor valued employees. The bill before us changes a policy that, while imperfect, has worked well and will replace it with a new, untested, unexamined system to provide visas to immigrants who look good on paper, but who may not have any familial or economic ties to our country.”
“I have serious concerns about this new experiment in social engineering, not only because of the lack of evidence that it will work, but because the bill says that the new points system cannot be changed for fourteen years. For that reason, I come to the floor today, joined by Senators Menendez and Feingold, to offer amendment 1202 to sunset the points system after five years. I am pleased that immigration experts, religious organizations, and immigrant advocacy organizations have all endorsed our amendment.”
“These groups have endorsed my amendment because the points system in this bill constitutes a radical shift in immigration policy, premised on the view that there is something wrong with family and employer sponsored immigration. If this program were merely supplementing the current system rather then significantly replacing it, it would not have caused as much concern.”
“Religious organizations and immigrant advocacy groups also have endorsed my amendment because the decisions about what characteristics are deserving of points -- and how points are allocated for those characteristics -- were made without a single hearing or public examination.”
“And they support the amendment because the new points system shifts us too far away from the value we place on family ties and moves us toward a class-based immigration system where some people are welcome only as guestworkers, but never as full participants in our democracy. Indeed, the practical effect of the points system is to make it more difficult for Americans and legal permanent residents with family living in Latin America to bring them here.”
“Our current immigration system delivers the lion’s share of green cards – about 63% -- to family members of Americans and legal permanent residents, while roughly 16% of visas are allocated to employment-based categories. The bill before us would reduce visas allocated to the family system in order to dramatically increase the proportion of visas distributed based on economic “points.” Once implemented, these new economic points visas would then account for about 40% of all visas, while family visas would account for less than half of all visas, with the remainder going for humanitarian purposes.”
“Under the new system, just a few of the current family preferences would be retained in any recognizable form. Spouses and children of U.S. citizens would still be able to come. However, parents of U.S. citizens would no longer be counted as immediate families, and thus most parents seeking to join their children and grandchildren in the United States would be denied green cards. The rest of the current family preferences – siblings, adult children, and many parents -- would be eviscerated.”
“The new points system also would eliminate employment-based green cards altogether, forcing employers recruiting workers abroad to rely exclusively on short-term H-1B and Y visas. This proposal takes an admittedly problematic, employment-based visa system and replaces it with a far more problematic, temporary worker program.”
“The design of the points system leaves numerous questions unanswered. Beyond pushing workers from Latin America to the back of an endless line, with no hope of ever reaching the front, the new points system leaves unspecified the crucial question of how migrants with sufficient points will be prioritized. Government bureaucrats would thus be left with unprecedented discretion to determine which immigrants have acceptable education, employment history, and work experience to merit admission into the country.”
“Taken together, the questionable design of this points program and the fundamental shift away from family preferences in the allocation of visas raise enough red flags that we should not simply rubber stamp this proposal and allow it to go forward.”
“Let me be clear: Senators Menendez, Feingold, and I are not proposing to strike the program from the bill. But this system should be revisited after a reasonable amount of time to determine whether it’s working, how it can be improved, and whether we should return to the current family and employer based system that has worked so well.”
“We live in a global economy, and I do believe that America will be strengthened if we welcome more immigrants who have mastered science and engineering. But, we cannot weaken the very essence of what America is by turning our backs on immigrants who want to reunite with their family members, or immigrants who have a willingness to work hard but who may not have the right graduate degrees.”
“This is not who we are as a country. Should those without graduate degrees who spoke Italian or Polish or German, instead of English, have been turned back at Ellis Island? Should the immigrants from Asia who arrived at Angel Island to build our railroads have been told that they could only come for two years because they had no hope of passing a points test? How many of our ancestors would have been allowed to enter the U.S. under this new system?”
“Character and work ethic have long defined generations of immigrants to America. But these qualities are beyond the scope of this bill’s points system. It tells us nothing about what people who have been without opportunity can achieve once they are here. It tells us nothing about the potential of their children to serve and to lead. We are Americans. We do not have a caste or class based society, and we do not need a caste or class based immigration system.”
“In short, the points system raises some serious concerns for me. Now, I’m willing to defer to those senators who negotiated this provision and say we should give this a try. But I’m not willing to say that this untested system should be made virtually permanent. For that reason, I urge my colleagues to support this common-sense amendment to sunset this points system after five years so we can examine its effectiveness and necessity.”