A new effort to narrow the route to permanent residency in America

DURING his presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to construct a wall along America’s southern border with Mexico to curtail illegal immigration. He often gave one caveat: this “big, beautiful wall” would have a “big, beautiful door” for those entering the country lawfully. Now, though, fellow Republicans have begun arguing that the door for legal immigrants should be made smaller.

There are two main paths for immigrants to become legal permanent residents in America: work and family. A new bill called the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, proposed by two Republican senators, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, would restrict the family route, which is sometimes referred to as “chain” migration. Unveiled on February 7th, the bill would allow legal permanent residents to sponsor their spouses or children under 18 for residency, but not more distant or adult relatives, as green-card holders can now. It would also cap the number of refugees offered residency at 50,000 a year and stamp out the diversity lottery, which distributes 50,000 visas a year to people from countries that have low rates of immigration to America.