Rep. Elijah Crane and Sen. Jim Banks introduce bill to end chain migration

The Nuclear Family Priority Act to end extended-family chain migration has been introduced in both the House (H.R. 2705) and Senate (S. 1328) by Rep. Elijah Crane and Sen. Jim Banks, respectively. This is the first time since 2020 that the Senate has introduced a bill to end chain migration.

The Nuclear Family Priority Act would do more than any bill in Congress to lower immigration.

As its name suggests, the Nuclear Family Priority Act would limit family-based green cards to spouses and minor children. The legislation is a NumbersUSA Great Immigration Solutions bill, and would – at long last – fulfill a key recommendation of the U.S. Commission on Immigration reform, chaired by Barbara Jordan by eliminating the adult siblings of U.S. citizens and adult children of U.S. citizens categories for family-based green cards. The bill would also eliminate green cards for parents of U.S. citizens, but still allow parents to live in the country with renewable visas. The bill would reduce legal immigration by more than 250,000 per year.

See also: U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform (the Jordan Commission)

Factsheet: How Chain Migration Works
Factsheet: How Chain Migration Leads to Illegal Immigration
Factsheet: Legislative History of Chain Migration

Barbara Jordan said immigration is a privilege, not a right. “It is a privilege granted by the people of the United States to those we choose to admit.” (Her emphasis) The U.S. government, however, admits hundreds of thousands every year based on extended-family relationships. The Nuclear Family Priority Act will fix that.

How chain migration works, and why we must end it

Sixty years ago, legislators inadvertently ignited a chain reaction in our immigration system that eventually sent immigration levels soaring to over one million per year. Instead of the American people choosing immigrants, Congress outsourced immigration to immigrants themselves.

This chart shows what chain migration can do when the U.S. chooses one immigrant for an employment-based (E-B immigrant) green card:

The solitary figure at the bottom-center is the ONLY person in the entire chart chosen by the American people based on the skills and other qualities they bring. EVERY OTHER FIGURE shown is chosen solely based on having some connection to that first, single immigrant.

Since Congress set off the chain reaction almost exactly 60 years ago, commission after commission has recommended cutting immigration back to a level that can sustain a higher standard of economic opportunity and environmental quality of life. Barbara Jordan chaired one of those commissions herself.

With Jordan’s influence, President Clinton and Congressional leaders supported her commission’s recommendation to scale immigration back, but the coalition fell apart almost immediately after Jordan died in 1996.

The House of Representatives fell short of passing a bill to end chain migration in 2018, although the vote in the House was the highest for reducing legal immigration numbers since 1924 when Congress successfully cut overall immigration.

Seven years later, the House and Senate have another opportunity to get this reform across the finish line.