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A blueprint for immigration reform
Story Date: 2/13/2013
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Source: CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES, 2/12/13
In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama is expected to re-iterate his stance on immigration. He would do well to examine the thoroughly-researched, well-documented findings of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform (the Jordan Commission) that spent more than five years – and numerous hearings – dealing with “comprehensive immigration reform” before taking to the podium.
Named for the late Barbara Jordan, the Commission was comprised of four Democratic appointees and four Republican ones, and with three chairs who were, in turn, a member of the College of Cardinals; a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives; and a former member of the president’s cabinet. Its work was summed up in these words:
"The credibility of immigration policy can be measured by a simple yardstick: people who should get in, do get in; people who should not get in are kept out; and people who are judged deportable are required to leave."
The new CIS report is online at: http://cis.org/a-blueprint-for-immigration-reform-revisiting-jordan-commissionhttp://cis.org/a-blueprint-for-immigration-reform-revisiting-jordan-commission
“The Jordan Commission put forth a plan intended to serve America’s national interests. We could learn today from their emphasis on facilitating assimilation, reducing job competition, and lowering fiscal costs,” comments report author David North, a CIS fellow and respected immigration policy researcher. “Their recommendations included emphasizing the nuclear family and eliminating chain migration categories, the cancelation of the visa lottery which randomly gives out 50,000 green cards a year and focusing instead on needed workers, strong border control, and a worker verification system.”
The Backgrounder describes the detailed recommendations of the Commission’s report, Becoming an American: Immigration and Immigrant Policy, which called for the nation to:
· Integrate the immigrants now in the U.S. more thoroughly;
· Reduce the total number of legal immigrants to about 550,000 a year;
· Rationalize the nonimmigrant visa program;
· Enforce the immigration law vigorously with no further amnesties; and
· Reorganize the management of the immigration processes within the government.
Mr. North contends three factors make the Commission’s report persuasive, even today. First, only one of the members represented an immigration interest group, and there were no unions or corporation representatives, no executives of either more-migration of less-migration organizations. Second, the Commission did not act quickly to suggest an answer to the country’s complex immigration needs; they took five years to study immigration matters and to discuss various approaches. Third, the Commission focused not only on who should be admitted and in what numbers, but also the role immigrants should play in society after admittance.
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