Thread by @wethelegal

Arguments linking per-country caps to maintaining diversity in America are used repeatedly. They came up yet again during the house judiciary committee hearing on 04/28, so we wanted to take some time to address it. 1/12

The thing being considered right now, is the removal of per-country caps in EB immigration. The caps apply to immigrants in this category who are ALREADY in the US and have been awaiting their turn for a green card for years! 2/12

Eliminating these per-country caps wouldn't let in any more EB immigrants into the US annually than right now. It would just make it make everyone stand in the SAME LINE for them, irrespective of their country of birth. 3/12

Here’s the deal: Current caps ignore the fact that different countries have different population sizes AND different rates of immigration. It ignores the fact that country borders are not drawn based on diversity. 4/12

Having the same quota for a country like China/India and Singapore, is ridiculous. Given their population, there will always be more Indian and Chinese immigrants in any global sample of immigrants than, say Finnish or Swedish immigrants. 5/12

Also, let's not pretend that this argument was actually ever about "diversity". It's a racist argument hiding under that veil. 6/12

We know this, because people making this argument curiously also happen to be people who have worked to systematically dismantle immigration pathways for immigrants who AREN'T from wealthy (typically white majority) countries. Looking at you, Center for Immigration Studies! 7/12

It should also be mentioned that the high-skilled immigration route is complicated, usually expensive, and indicative of privilege (Can't really demonstrate "high-skill" without a college education, can you?). It is not a pathway anyone can waltz down. 8/12

Oh, and if you do want to attract more immigrants from wealthier countries, there's a whole slew of non-immigration related policies that need to be worked on to attract them (Psst! Healthcare reform would be a great starting point!). 9/12

Curiously enough, the US already has a whole separate diversity visa path for those who come from countries with low immigration rates. And they're conveniently left out when this bogus argument comes up. 10/12

Lastly, we wanted to make it really clear what those making this argument are really saying. “Hey there! You lived here, worked, paid taxes for a few decades… 11/12

You might even have a child who’s either US born or who could also be at risk of losing their status as we saw during the hearing. But sorry, we really don’t care ‘coz you’re not the sort of people we want here. Born in the wrong country, tough!” 12/12

If you've made it all the way to the end of this thread, we highly recommend checking out David Bier's testimony at the hearing here —

https://twitter.com/HouseJudiciary/status/1387810420665290763?s=20

13/n

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#GreenCard #HR6 #H1b #H1Bvisa #H4 #H4EAD #H4EADdelays #Immigration #immigrationReform #legalImmigration #GCBacklog #S386 #HR1044 #PathToCitizenship #CitizenshipAct2021 #F1Visa #StudentVisa 14/n