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Immigration Fixes

From the Jordan Commission to the RAISE Act

By CIS on December 4, 2017

Media

Panel Transcript
Panel Video
Report: Immigration Multipliers - Trends in Chain Migration

Date: Thursday, November 30, 2017, at 9 a.m.

Location: National Press Club, Lisagor Room, 529 14th St, NW, 13th Floor, Washington, D.C.

The Center for Immigration Studies hosted panel discussion focusing on past and present attempts to change the immigration system. The speakers will included U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-Ga), co-author of the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act, Michael Teitelbaum, Vice Chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform (which was the last officially appointed advisory group to offer detailed immigration recommendations chaired by the late civil rights icon Barbara Jordan), and Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies and author of an extensive report on chain migration.

The debate over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program has brought the issue of chain migration, and legal immigration in general, to the forefront. While the RAISE Act and the recommendations of the Jordan Commission differ in certain respects, both seek to end chain migration by focusing on the nuclear family and put an emphasis on skills useful to the United States. Senator Perdue, Dr. Teitelbaum, and Ms. Vaughan discussed these issues and more.

Introduction and Moderator

MARK KRIKORIAN (Moderator)
Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies

Participants

U.S. SENATOR DAVID PERDUE (R-GA)
David Perdue is the only Fortune 500 CEO in Congress and is serving his first term in the United States Senate, where he represents Georgia on the Armed Services, Banking, Budget, and Agriculture Committees. He is a co-author of the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE Act) and a congressional leader on legal immigration reform.
 
DR. MICHAEL TEITELBAUM
Michael Teitlebaum served as Vice Chair and Acting Chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform (”the Jordan Commission”). An internationally recognized expert on migration, he is a senior advisor to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a Wertheim Fellow at Harvard Law School, and a member of the Center of Migration Studies Board of Trustees.

JESSICA VAUGHAN
Jessica Vaughan is Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies and author of a recent report, “Immigration Multipliers: Trends in Chain Migration”, which examines the impact of the U.S. family-based immigration system.