Op-ed: Chain Migration Fuels a Bloated and Obsolete Immigration System

Each year, the United States approves more than a million permanent residency or green cards. For decades, more than half of immigration to our country has been chain migration — immigrants sponsored by a family member who came earlier, most often a new spouse, a grown son or daughter, or a sibling. In contrast, only about 15% of annual immigration is based on skills or sponsorship by an employer, with the remainder based on a green card lottery or humanitarian programs.

Chain migration and periodic amnesties that award huge numbers of green cards outside the regular system have fueled near-constant growth in legal immigration for decades. This is because two of the largest chain migration categories, spouses and parents of naturalized citizens, are not numerically capped. In particular, the number of parents admitted has grown by more than 15% since 2016, with more than 208,000 new green cards issued to parents of prior immigrants in 2023.

When most immigrants are chosen by family members who came earlier, there is no guarantee that immigration will help our country. As it turns out, our chain migration system is very expensive for taxpayers. Census data show that more than half of all immigrant-headed households are accessing at least one welfare program, compared to about 40% of native U.S.-born households, at a cost of $42 billion per year.

Replacing chain migration with a modern system balancing family admissions with more skilled immigrants will restore public support for our cherished tradition of generous immigration and better serve our national interest.

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[Read the rest at the Washington Examiner]