Principle of Immigration Reform: Abolish Employment-Based Green Cards

By John Miano on October 8, 2013

We have seen that the Washington establishment is committed to not reforming immigration. "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" has become a euphemism for "amnesty for illegal aliens" plus "more foreign labor" plus "all the goodies lobbyists can throw in". The result is a 1,000-plus page bill that allegedly reforms a system created in 120 pages.

When you read the bill, you find a key piece is missing: reform.

I thought I would start writing down what I would expect to be in an immigration reform bill. I will try to put these down as I have time.

My first principle of reform is to abolish employment-based green cards. While these have the theoretical beauty of ensuring that the immigrant has a job, they are unfair to those who want to live in this country. Employment-based immigration puts the potential immigrants at the mercy of their employer to process the visa application.

The people and government of the United States should confer immigration benefits. They should not be employment benefits granted by corporations. In fact, go to nearly any job board and you can find green card processing being listed as a fringe benefit by employers.

Let the potential immigrant be in complete control of his immigration application. Having a job could be a factor in granting the application. However, the potential immigrant makes the application on his own behalf.