In a recent 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the\nTrump administration could implement a new \u201cpublic charge\u201d rule that could make\nit harder for immigrants relying on public assistance to achieve legal status.\nNot surprisingly, open borders activist and New York Congresswoman Alexandria\nOcasio-Cortez did not approve of the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The freshman Congresswoman sent out<\/a> a tweet slamming the \u201cshameful\u201d court ruling, proclaiming that \u201cThe American Dream isn\u2019t a private club with a cover charge.\u201d Apparently, AOC forgot about the prevalence of chain migration in our immigration system – which is blithely labeled \u201cfamily reunification\u201d by open borders cheerleaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chain migration became a dominant feature<\/a> of American immigration policy following the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965. It allows an immigrant to sponsor other family members for admission — including parents, children, and siblings \u2013 solely on the basis of a qualifying family relationship, without regard to an immigrant\u2019s job skills, language abilities or employment prospects. Those relatives can in turn sponsor even more family members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of chain migration, the American Dream actually does operate as \u201ca private club with a cover charge.\u201d In 2018, 1,096,611 immigrants were granted<\/a> lawful permanent resident status. Of those, 695,524 immigrants gained lawful permanent resident status as a result of chain migration policies. That\u2019s roughly 63 percent of all immigrants receiving lawful permanent resident status in 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Due to our \u201cprivate club\u201d immigration policy, many of the most qualified prospective immigrants cannot meet the \u201ccover charge\u201d required to join because they do not have any relatives currently living in the United States. Last year, Fox News\u2019 Tucker Carlson profiled<\/a> Christine Mikolajuk, a journalist and consulting executive who spent 14 years applying for a green card in the United States.\u00a0 Despite the fact that she \u201cspent a decade following the rules,\u201d \u201cwent to Harvard,\u201d and \u201cspeaks fluent English,\u201d Mikolajuk was continually denied legal permanent resident status in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAmerica makes it so hard to stay\nhere if you\u2019re applying on the basis of your skills and education,\u201d Mikolajuk\nexplained. \u201cSeventy percent of green cards are given to people because of their\nfamily and whether they have a connection to a citizen already\u2026Only 10% of\ngreen cards are given to people because of their jobs and their skills.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prioritizing migrants based on family relations instead of the skills they offer doesn\u2019t serve the best interests of the United States. Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue have introduced legislation<\/a> that would remedy this by implementing a merit-based immigration system. The Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act would prioritize admission based on important factors including English fluency, education level, and age while substantially reducing family-based immigration. Thanks to opposition from both sides of the aisle, doing the bidding of economic and political interests that benefit from a never-ending supply of low-wage labor, the bill has failed to gain traction on Capitol Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if AOC truly cared about making immigration policy\noperate less like a private club, she would advocate replacing the current\nsystem of chain migration with a more inclusive one that looks at the skills\nand values of applicants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a recent 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could implement a new \u201cpublic charge\u201d rule that could make it harder for immigrants relying on public assistance to achieve legal status. Not surprisingly, open borders activist and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not approve of the decision. The freshman Congresswoman<\/p>\n