RAISE what exactly?

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

If you’ve managed to miss the back-and-forth between Stephen Miller and Jim Acosta, congratulations! Do you have room under your rock for me? I’ll bring my own TV (just Netflix, promise). The RAISE (Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy) Act which is co-sponsored by Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and David Perdue (R-Georgia) was introduced to the Senate in February of 2017. Last week, the Trump Administration announced its support of the bill, once again bringing immigration reform and the Trump rhetoric around outsiders to the national spotlight.

What exactly would the RAISE Act do?

The RAISE Act seeks to “[…]establish a skills-based immigration points system, to focus family sponsored immigration on spouses and minor children, to eliminate the Diversity Visa Program, to set a limit on the number of refugees admitted annually to the United States, and for other purposes.” (source)

It would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to:

• Eliminate the diversity immigrant visa category. The Diversity Visa Program offers a preference for individuals from underrepresented countries via a lottery. Removing this element of Immigration Policy would lead to a more homogeneous immigrant class (that might be a theme here).
• Tweak the processes for determining who qualifies for an employer-sponsored green card. There is no increase to the number of these types of green cards, currently capped at 140,000. Currently there are five ways folks can qualify for employer-sponsored immigration: “persons of extraordinary ability”; professionals with advanced graduate degrees or exceptional ability; professionals, skilled workers and unskilled workers (capped at 5,000); certain special immigrants who meet U.S. national interests; and those who invest at least $500,000. The RAISE Act would change this to be a point-based system placing an added focus on English-language proficiency (for the first time) and salary.
• Set the fiscal year limit for refugee admissions to 50,000. This would remove the President’s ability to adjust the amount as needed for diplomatic or humanitarian goals.
• Limit uncapped family-sponsored immigration to spouses and minor (under 18) children. Family-sponsored immigration accounts for 2/3 of immigration currently. Currently, US citizens can sponsor spouses, minor (under 21) children, and parents without any limit. US citizens can also sponsor adult children and siblings; however, these categories are subject to caps. Legal permanent residents can sponsor spouses, minor children, and adult unmarried children. In addition, RAISE would lower the capped categories from 226,000 green cards offered to 88,000. (source)

Instead of fixing our immigration system, or professionalizing/focusing on high-skilled labor, this dramatically cuts the number of people who would be allowed into the US, and makes it incredibly difficult to earn one of those coveted spots. Don’t believe me? See if you would qualify for immigration under the RAISE act.

While on the surface, this conversation is all about who we let in and why; there’s a deeper question, which Acosta articulated somewhat in his exchange. The RAISE Act brings to question our values as a country. We can agree that there has to be a limit to immigration. However, does that limit come at the cost of our commitment to keeping families together, does it come at the cost of saving lives, does it come at the cost of offering true opportunity to those who dare seek it? This is a conversation central to the core of our American values. We have to continue to educate ourselves on it, and come up with creative and compassionate solutions.