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The SAVE Act

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The SAVE Act is the middle-ground answer to the illegal immigration issue. This not only will be the most effective solution, but it is what polls show most Americans want. When given the choice among (a) mass roundups and mass deportations, (b) mass legalizations, and (c) Attrition Through Enforcement & Self Deportation, the public chooses the middle-ground Attrition option.

The bi-partisan SAVE Act was introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) in the House and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) in the Senate. It is one of our "5 Great Immigration Reduction Bills".

S. 2368: 

SAVE Act of 2007

Published: 

NumbersUSA's Position:  

Support

S. 2368, SAVE Act of 2007, would help reduce illegal immigration by requiring every employer in the United States to eventually use the E-Verify electronic employment eligibility verification system to verify that every employee has the legal right to work in the United States. As well, S. 2368 contains other interior enforcement measures such as increasing the number of ICE agents and training at least 250 State and local law enforcement officers on how to perform federal immigration enforcement procedures.

About NumbersUSA Education and Research Foundation

NumbersUSA Education and Research Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan immigration-reduction organization. We conduct research on the impacts of high numerical levels of immigration and educate the public, opinion leaders and policymakers on the results of those and other studies. Undergirding our work are beliefs in environmental sustainability, economic justice, the rule of law, and individual liberty, and opposition to federal immigration policies that threaten these values by forcing massive U.S. population growth.

Sensible Solutions

Since our founding, NumbersUSA has promoted the immigration recommendations of the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. It recommended that annual legal immigration numbers be cut to around a half-million (compared to current totals of more than one million a year) and called for policy changes that would eliminate most illegal immigration.

End Most Illegal Immigration

End Visa Overstays

While much of the discussion of illegal immigration has been over border security, visa overstay is just as much part of the problem. Overstayers fall in three different categories: those who were issued visas, those who came from countries that have been granted participation in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), and those who entered from Mexico or Canada with Border Crossing Cards (BCCs).

Stop Amnesty

Under federal law, illegal presence in the United States is punishable by removal and a 3-year bar from re-entry for aliens illegally present for longer than 180 days and less than 1 year, or a 10-year bar from re-entry for aliens illegally present for longer than 1 year. Illegal aliens who had been previously removed, but are found illegally present again are permanently inadmissible.

Improve Border Enforcement

The Department of Homeland Security reported in December that they reached their target of 18,000 border patrol agents protecting the land and sea borders of the United States, most of who are stationed along the U.S.-Mexico border. The border patrol uses a variety of tools to deter and apprehend smugglers and potential illegal immigrants, including using dune buggies to combat drug smuggling on the California-Baja California border, mounted patrols to combat human smugglers, and helicopters equipped with thermal imaging devices to find illegal alien convoys at night.

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Reform Immigration Numbers

Eliminate Visa Lottery

The Diversity Visa Program, often referred to as the “Visa Lottery” was established in 1990. Under this program, 55,000 visas are allocated annually via a random process to natives of countries that have relatively low rates of immigration to the United States. In 1997, 5,000 of these visas were reserved for individuals who qualified for legal permanent resident status under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act. Those 5,000 visas are not granted under a lottery process.

Reduce Unnecessary Worker Visas

A pragmatic look at foreign worker policy


The effect of legal immigration on the United States is in proportion to its volume and composition.

Ideally, who and how many immigrants we admit would be a reflection of informed public will, legislated with deliberation and consistently enforced. The reality, however, is quite different. Our immigration system is a hodge-podge of laws, executive orders and administrative regulations that lack intention, oversight and a clear purpose as to the stated outcome.

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Amnesty Costs 70 Times More Than Enforcement

The Heritage Foundation issued two studies in 2007 pointing out that the big problem with mass legalization is that (a) most illegal aliens are low-skilled and therefore do not earn enough money to pay enough taxes to cover the government benefits they receive; and (b), amnesty would eventually make them eligible for the full array of welfare and medical benefits offered by local, state and federal governments. They found the cost of allowing illegal aliens to remain in the United States, and eventually to become citizens, would be $3.7 trillion through the year 2056. That works out to a present cost of $1 trillion, at a 5 percent discount rate. In other words, immediately upon passage of an amnesty bill, the United States government would need to put $1 trillion into an investment earning 5 percent per year if it were honest about paying for the costs of amnesty.

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