U.S. legal immigration policy should prioritize the economy, experts argue
- The Census Bureau estimates that immigrants account for about 13.7% of the entire U.S. population.
- Today, less than 1% of those looking to reside permanently in the U.S. can do so legally, according to research by the Cato Institute.
- Experts argue that there is a mismatch between economic demands and U.S. immigration policy, which heavily favors family sponsorships.
The U.S. has more foreign-born residents than any other country, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The Census Bureau estimates that immigrants account for about 13.7% of the entire U.S. population.
But today, less than 1% of those looking to reside permanently in the U.S. can do so legally, according to research by the Cato Institute.
"Most other developed nations in the world have a much higher percentage of their immigration system based on economics," according to Theresa Cardinal Brown, a senior advisor on immigration and border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
In the U.S., 62.6% of permanent resident, or "green," cards go toward family-sponsored immigrants, compared with just 21.1% for employment-based sponsorships, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Cato Institute estimates that just 1 in 1,500 new hires in the U.S. receives a green card through employment sponsorship programs.
The U.S. legal immigration system is in dire need of reform to make it work for the U.S. economy, experts say.
"I think the limitations for the numbers of annual immigrants was last updated in 1990 when our population was smaller and when the kinds of work that we did in this country was different," Brown said.
Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said, "What I would like to see are reforms to make the majority of people who come here legally as immigrants to come because our economy needs them."
Watch the video above to see why the U.S. is having so much trouble solving the immigration crisis.