Mission: Repair the broken promises of 2020 & 1965

author Published by Jeremy Beck

“…the bill before you in no way significantly increases the basic numbers of immigrants to be permitted entry. We are not talking about increased immigration…” 

Rep. Emmanuel “Manny” Celler (D-NY), one of the principal authors of the “Hart-Celler” Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, promising to keep immigration levels to under 300,000 per year.

“The last thing we need is to say we’re going to stop immediately the access to asylum the way it’s being run and end up with two million people on our border. It’s a matter of setting up the guardrails so we can move the direction.” 

President-elect Biden, December 22, 2020, promising to avoid a border crisis.

Four years ago last month, President-elect Biden promised to avoid a rush of 2 million people at the border. He didn’t keep his promise. Border encounters averaged 2.5 million per year during his administration. The unsustainable numbers admitted into the country are depressing economic mobility and homeownership, as well as the fiscal and physical infrastructure of receiving communities.

Sixty years ago this month, Rep. Emmanuel Celler introduced the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 in the House of Representatives. Annual immigration levels had averaged less than 300,000 per year for four decades, contributing to the greatest period of economic mobility in American history. Rep. Celler promised his bill would not increase immigration. Rep. Celler was wrong. Annual green cards have increased to more than a million annually. The rise of the middle class halted, then reversed. Inequality has worsened. For millions of Americans, hard work alone is no longer enough to achieve the American dream.

As this 119th Congress and 47th President respond to the dictates of the November elections, their task is not only to reverse the wave of illegal immigration over the last four years, but to rectify the broken promise of the last sixty years to manage all immigration at a sustainable level.

Great problems require great solutions

Congress and President Trump will need to sign into law bills in all six of our great solutions categories in order to repair the broken promise of 2020, and put right the broken promise of 1965.

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