Is the U.S. Legal Immigration System Outdated?

Jessica M. Vaughan; Phillip Linderman

By Jessica M. Vaughan and Phillip Linderman on October 19, 2023

Listen to "Is the U.S. Legal Immigration System Outdated?" on Spreaker.

Summary

The illegal immigration crisis at the southern border overshadows discussion about the existing legal immigration system in the United States. But on this episode of the Center for Immigration Studies’ podcast, Phillip Linderman, a Center board member and retired State Department senior Foreign Service officer, discusses two outdated legal immigration programs, ‘extended’ family reunification and the visa lottery, with guest host Jessica Vaughan, the Center’s director of policy studies.

The U.S. accepts more than 1.1 million legal immigrants every year, over two-thirds of whom enter via family-based categories -- meaning they enter because of who they are related to, not because of any skills they possess or humanitarian needs they might have. Linderman explains how the legal immigration system currently in place exists primarily to grow the number of family members of immigrants in the U.S. As Vaughan points out, each legal immigrant brings an average of 3.4 additional immigrants into the country through chain migration.

This episode also covers the controversial Visa Lottery program. Linderman and Vaughan question its value, highlighting how the program’s poor vetting has attracted criminal activity. Four policy suggestions emerge from the discussion on legal immigration:

Prioritize spouses and minor children, as opposed to extended family units that include parents, adult sons and daughters, and adult siblings;
Shift toward skill-based immigration, aligning with proposals such as the RAISE Act;
Eliminate the Visa Lottery;
Simplify the immigration process.

In her closing commentary, Vaughan flags a concerning rise of sanctuary policies in Utah. As explained in separate posts by Ron Mortensen, a Center fellow, and Jon Feere, the Center’s director of investigations, two county sheriffs in the state recently canceled their contracts with ICE due to the burdensome requirements of the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman.