Stephen Miller Pushing To Cut Legal Immigration In Half
Image by Getty Images
Senior presidential aide Stephen Miller is reportedly working on crafting a bill that would slash legal immigration in half by 2027, according to Politico.
In concert with Senator Tom Cotton and Senator David Perdue, the bill would halve the number of legal immigrants allowed to enter the country each year. About 1 million legal immigrants are granted entry each year, while this plan would cut that number to 500,000 over the next decade.
Republicans haven’t mounted a serious attack on legal immigration since 1996, when then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich pushed President Clinton to add in language cutting legal immigration in a broader set of immigration reform measures. This was eventually dropped.
Currently, prospective immigrants with family already in the U.S. are prioritized. The legislation proposed by Cotton and Perdue would focus on a “merit-based” approach, favoring those in categories such as “professors and researchers, those holding advanced degrees, and those with extraordinary ability in a particular field.”
Those admitted to the U.S. under these circumstances have accounted for less than 10 percent of immigrations in the last 15 years.
Contact Jesse Bernstein at bernstein@forward.com or on Twitter @__jbernstein
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
