Chain migration fuels a bloated and obsolete immigration system
By
Jessica Vaughan
May 8, 2025 6:00 am
Each year, the United States approves more than a million immigrants for 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.
Studies show that, aside from nuclear family members who are admitted at the same time, new immigrants sponsor an average of 3.45 additional family members who come later. Immigrants from some top-sending countries, such as Mexico, India, the Philippines, and China, tend to produce even more chain migration, with a multiplier of more than five additional sponsored immigrants per newcomer.
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.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/patriotism-unity/3402727/chain-migration-us-bloated-obsolete-immigration-system/
