海角大神

Immigration has been central to the American experiment from the start. After a decline during the middle and end of the 20th century, the immigrant population in the United States is nearing the peaks of the early 1900s.

This growth is still modest 鈥� immigrants made up just under 14% of the total population last year. It鈥檚 slower than in other wealthy nations.

Gridlock in Congress has kept America鈥檚 immigration system effectively frozen in the 1990s, and this legislative impasse affects not just safety and security, experts say, but also the economic prosperity of the country as well.

鈥淚mmigrant workers are increasingly supporting our labor force growth as our population ages and birth rates lower,鈥� says Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. 鈥淥ur immigration pathways aren鈥檛 keeping up with the ways we want to use them today,鈥� she adds.

The federal government issues a limited number of temporary visas and even fewer permanent residency cards (often called 鈥済reen cards鈥�), every year. A surge in tech companies鈥� hiring foreign workers on temporary visas has resulted in immigrants from India facing impossibly long waits 鈥� more than 100 years at current rates 鈥撀爐o get a green card, says Ms. Gelatt.

Improving legal immigration pathways into the U.S. is critical for the nation鈥檚 economic and national security, concluded a聽white paper聽published last month by the Council on National Security and Immigration. A group of big city mayors wrote to President Joe Biden聽in October聽asking for more support helping migrants in their cities find jobs so they can move out of shelters and support themselves and their families.

Meanwhile for the first time in decades, America鈥檚 immigrant population 鈥� both legal and unauthorized 鈥� has been growing slower than those in most other wealthy nations. While a majority of Americans think immigration is good for the country, a growing number want it curtailed,聽according to Gallup. Republican lawmakers in particular have pushed to restrict immigration in recent years.

鈥淭here鈥檚 more openness to legal immigration than illegal immigration, but the daylight between the two is narrowing every day,鈥� says David Bier, associate director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.聽The fact that most migrants at the southern border are in fact entering legally by requesting asylum 鈥渋nevitably blurs the line,鈥� he adds.

Furthering negative views of immigration are the beliefs that immigrants commit more crimes than native-born residents and take jobs from them, experts say. Both are unfounded, according to decades of statistics and research.