Many Arizona residents are no doubt aware that President Donald Trump has been focused on reducing illegal immigration. Now, two Republican senators are proposing a law that would reduce the number of immigrants who enter the country legally. They believe that the proposed bill would bring the number of green cards that are issued each year down from about 1 million to 600,000.
The proposed immigration bill would reduce the number of green cards that are issued to foreign nationals with U.S. citizen family members. Right now, family-based immigration is the largest legal immigration category. The proposed bill would also reduce the number of immigrants that are granted refugee status by 50 percent. The diversity visa program, a lottery system that grants green cards to citizens of countries with low immigration rates, would be completely eliminated under the proposed bill.
One of the authors of the proposed bill said that the goal of the legislation is to bring immigration levels back down to historical norms and focus on the well-being of American citizens. He said that the economy needs time to catch up with the high levels of immigration that the country has experienced over the past couple of generations. Some proponents of reduced immigration believe that unskilled immigrants create more competition in the job market for low-skilled U.S. citizens.
U.S. immigration law is always changing, and staying abreast can be difficult. People who are applying for a new visa to enter the U.S. may want to work with an immigration attorney to improve their chances of success.