Everything You Need To Know About The RAISE Act Without Reading It

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The Federalist

Few issues so fixate and divide our nation of immigrants as much as how we should govern immigration. This has been especially true since the recent presidential campaign, when immigration debates loomed large.
While the Trump administration has enacted various immigration-related policies by executive orders, Republicans have finally introduced an actual piece of legislation to represent their views. The “Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act” (RAISE Act henceforth) will undoubtedly be in the news in upcoming days and weeks, so it behooves the careful conservative media consumer to know what’s in the bill and what it means.

First, the RAISE ACT would eliminate “Diversity Lottery Visas,” a program that gives 50,000 visas to countries that send few immigrants to the United States in the name of, well, diversity. Second, it would limit the number of refugees given permanent residency to 50,000 per year. Third, it would eliminate the ability of immigrants to sponsor visas for extended family members and adult children.
Fourth, it would restructure the employment-visa system into a points system akin to those used by Canada or Australia, prioritizing young-ish immigrants with good English, high-paying job offers, and other markers of achievement.
The RAISE Act Would Reduce Immigration
The net effect of the RAISE Act would be, ironically given the name, a sharp decline in legal immigration. The graphs below show legal immigration per year since 1980, as well as the effect forecast by the RAISE Act’s sponsors, in absolute numbers as well as legal immigration as a percentage of population since 1850.