New Pew Report on Diversity Visa Good Reminder of RAISE Act’s importance; Bill Would End DV

The Pew Research Center produces invaluable reports that often focus on, among other topics, immigration, population growth and, albeit indirectly, the link between the two. Pew’s latest analysis tackles a target CAPS has regularly criticized – the purposeless and harmful Diversity Visa.

Despite relentless U.S. population growth and job shortages, the State Department forges on with useless Diversity Visa.

Created in 1995, the DV’s goal was to increase diversity in the United States by randomly admitting 50,000 foreign nationals from countries with historically low immigration rates into the U.S. Mexicans, Canadians and Indians are ineligible, but Iranians, Nepalese, Liberians and others from underdeveloped nations can apply. And, as State Department statistics confirm, prospective DV recipients have applied in huge numbers.

Despite the long odds against being selected, diversity visa hopefuls have doubled their applications since 2007 to 156 million. During the last fiscal year, 19 million applied, more than twice the 9 million applicants in 2007.

Beyond the absurdity of offering foreign nationals with limited language and job skills a permanent residency visa that includes employment authorization, the lucky 50,000 set off chain migration which will inevitably lead to thousands of their family members joining them.

Since some of the countries represented among the lottery winners migrate from high-fertility nations, the original chain and the subsequent ones that follow will produce significant population increases. Moreover, the United Nations Population Division predicts sending nations’ populations will continue to soar which will create an ever-larger pool of potential applicants.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton recently introduced legislation, the RAISE Act (Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment), S 384, that would end the diversity visa, stating, “The Diversity Lottery is plagued with fraud, advances no economic or humanitarian interest, and does not even deliver the diversity of its namesake.”

According to the press release on Sen. Cotton’s website:

“The RAISE Act would eliminate the 50,000 visas arbitrarily allocated to this lottery, and would also lower overall immigration to 637,960 in its first year and to 539,958 by its tenth year—a 50 percent reduction from the 1,051,031 immigrants who arrived in 2015.”
 
 
Please go to the CAPS Action Alert page here and urge your Senators to cosponsor the much-needed RAISE Act.