Overall Impact on
Legal Immigration
The
Immigration Reduction Act would have established a pierceable ceiling
of 320,000 on family-based immigration. The number of visas available
each year for family-preference categories would have been determined
by subtracting the number of spouses, minor children and parents of
citizens, employment-based immigrants and refugees admitted in the previous
year from 320,000. Because of the large and growing number of spouses,
minor children and parents of citizens, the ceiling of 320,000 would
have been exceeded each year except 1996, and no visas would have been
left for the family-preference categories.
The Immigration
Reduction Act would have had no direct impact on admissions in this
category. It is likely, however, that by decreasing overall immigration,
and thus the number of immigrants who would become eligible to naturalize
and bring over these family members, the act indirectly would have decreased
admissions in this category.
As with
the category above, the Immigration Reduction Act would have had no
direct impact on this category, but likely would have had an indirect
impact since it decreased overall immigration.
The Immigration
Reduction Act would have allocated this category 10 percent of any visas
left after the previous year’s spouses, minor children and parents
of citizens, employment-based immigrants and refugees had been subtracted
from the ceiling of 320,000.
This
category would have been allocated 39 percent of any visas left after
the previous year’s spouses, minor children and parents of citizens,
employment-based immigrants and refugees had been subtracted from the
ceiling of 320,000 under the Immigration Reduction Act.
The Immigration
Reduction Act would have allocated this category 12 percent of any visas
left after the previous year’s spouses, minor children and parents
of citizens, employment-based immigrants and refugees had been subtracted
from the ceiling of 320,000.
This
category would have been allocated 10 percent of any visas left after
the previous year’s spouses, minor children and parents of citizens,
employment-based immigrants and refugees had been subtracted from the
ceiling of 320,000 under the Immigration Reduction Act.
This
category would have been allocated 29 percent of any visas left after
the previous year’s spouses, minor children and parents of citizens,
employment-based immigrants and refugees had been subtracted from the
ceiling of 320,000 under the Immigration Reduction Act.
The Immigration
Reduction Act would have reduced this category’s ceiling to 25,000
and limited admissions to priority workers and employer-sponsored workers
with advanced degrees or exceptional ability.
This
category would have been eliminated by the Immigration Reduction Act.
This
category would have been eliminated by the Immigration Reduction Act.
This
category would have been eliminated by the Immigration Reduction Act.
The Immigration
Reduction Act would have limited this category to 50,000 annually.
"Anchor
babies" are the children born in the United States to illegal-alien
mothers. Under current practice, these children are U.S. citizens
at birth, simply because they were born on U.S. soil. They are called
anchor babies because, as U.S. citizens, they become eligible to sponsor
for legal immigration any of their relatives, including their illegal-alien
mothers, when they turn 21 years of age, thus becoming the U.S. "anchor"
for an extended immigrant family. Moreover, the INS rarely deports
illegal immigrants who have U.S.-born children, so by virtue of being
born on U.S. soil, these children offer some protection to their parents
from deportation. The Immigration Reduction Act would have denied
automatic U.S. citizenship to children born in the United States to
illegal-alien mothers.
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